Snowflakes of Love
by Smitty91
Summary: Fed up with Alvin's selfishness, Dave sends Alvin to Vancouver to spend Christmas with the Matthews. Meanwhile, Marshmallow and Snowflake discover their feelings for each other while searching for a Christmas present for Colin, and Colin teaches Erik how to ice skate.
1. Chapter 1

Snowflakes of Love

 **A/N: Special thanks goes to Munk19 for suggesting ideas and helping me with the title. Your encouragement and support is a real blessing. :)**

Chapter 1

Vancouver.

Alvin's home away from home, or at least that's what it felt like to him. He'd come to appreciate its dry summers to its rainy winters, the climate mild enough to support palm trees. He could very easily call this place "home," he had become acquainted with it so much, albeit Los Angeles would always be his hometown, the city in which he'd been born and raised by his short-tempered, stern, strict, yet loving and caring adoptive father, Dave Seville. Still, he could not think of any other place to live than in Vancouver outside of Los Angeles. He had toured all over the world with his brothers as their famous band "Alvin and the Chipmunks," and he found Vancouver to be the most easy-going type of place he'd been to in his short-lived years as a musician. Besides, moving across the world to some foreign country would be too expensive and too time-consuming. When he graduated from high school and moved onto college and got out into the world on his own, he figured the first place he'd move to was none other than Vancouver, his second home.

Vancouver was where the red-clad chipmunk was now, residing in a home that contained a family of skunks, plus a raccoon. There were at least two children, one of them being a skunk and the other the aforementioned raccoon, both of the same age, if one was only older than the other by at almost thirty days, their birthdays separated by that duration. There were two more skunks, one the youngest in the family, and the other the mother of the family. Throughout the years via video chat and email the red-clad chipmunk had come to know the family quite well and had spent quite a bit of time with them through infrequent visits to Vancouver, them allowing him to take residence in their home instead of some run-down dingy hotel that would otherwise turn out to be unsuitable for anyone to abide in.

Very much like they had done with the raccoon, the family of skunks had taken Alvin in under their wing and treated him like family, making him a brother of the children and a son to the mother skunk. He felt honored by this, relieved that he had a place to stay when he was in Vancouver in lieu of having to stay in a rotten hotel room where he would have to pay in order to stay there. At the abode that he stayed in he found a warm bed to sleep in, free food, the freedom to snack throughout the day, and he had friends to play with. He usually slept in the same room as the oldest children slept in, while the youngest child and the mother had their own separate rooms.

There were two beds within the childrens' room. Being that the raccoon took up less room, Alvin often slept iwth him, not that the skunk minded of course, being htat the skunk had a tendency to toss and turn and talk in his sleep.

Like almost all families, none of the members within the skunk family looked alike. The only ones who looked even remotely identical to one another were the mother and the oldest skunk, although the mother's son was quite fat and very short in stature, his little legs just barely giving him the ability to walk. The other two children, those being the youngest skunk and the raccoon, didn't look anything like anyone else in the family.

The youngest skunk was a white and silver-gray furred skunk, hence the name she had been given: Marshmallow. She was at least seven years younger than the other two children. Her main fur color was an albino color. The fur on her head and her stripes were a silver-gray color. The only distinctive feature, other than being white, that she had was that she had a set of beautiful, gorgeous golden brown eyes, a recessive trait that seemed to run in her family since no one else in her family had brown eyes. Her mother had a set of baby blue eyes, whereas her biological brother had a pair of emerald green eyes that seemed even more gorgeous when light them, illuminating them, as what also happened when light hit her own eyes.

The raccoon was the oldest of the children, by nearly thirty days. For the first thirteen years of his life he had lived on the streets of Vancouver, stealing from local shops and delis and digging around in garbage cans for only half-decent leftovers in order to survive, something that he was not at all proud of. In spite of the fact that he was a big eater like his adoptive brother and best friend, he somehow managed to stay in shape. For such a binge eater he was quite slender in size, greatly contrasting the skunk that was his best friend. He had brown fur and white fur from his muzle to his belly, which seemed to be as flat as a pancake, even though he pigged out on a daily basis with his adoptive brother. He had a large ringed fluffy tail, each ring coated in black fur, as was his mask that was above his muzzle that covered his eyes, making him look like the stereotypical thief that his kind was often portrayed as.

In spite of their flaws and differences, they had each come to love and respect one another, and Alvin himself had come to love and respect them and care for them, even the skunk mother who was very much like a second mother to him, even if his biological mother lived in the forest that wasn't very far from his home, and she made visits to the Seville household every now and then. Because of this, it was good that he had a surrogate mother who he was able to visit and talk to over the phone and Internet. Being that his biological mother lived in the forest, she had no need for electrical items, living very much like an amish woamn, doing everything through scratch and simple means, including cooking and cleaning and traveling.

Alvin had been sitting on the sofa in the living room for the past fifteen minutes now, his arms folded, staring blankly at the television while sounds of his surrogate mother cooking floated in through the threshold that led to the dining room/kitchen. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweater, sighing and crossing one leg over the other, continuing to glance at the big-screen television in front of him, waiting patiently for the two oldest children to return from the library.

He wondered what kind of kids would want to waste their Christmas break in the library reading books when they could be at home having fun just goofing off? The two reminded him of both Simon and Theodore in that they both were a couple of bookworms, opting to read books rather than watch television or play video games and they both were quite a couple of pigs when it came to food.

He perked up when he heard a distinct sound that broke through the somewhat silence that filled the room. He watched as Marshmallow came crawling through the hallway, her white diaper rustling as she went, her hips swaying back and forth, her massive white and silver-gray tail bobbing back and forth, her blue shirt hanging below her belly, a happy smile on her face as she approached him, drool escaping through her mouth when she made happy coos and other sounds that expressed how happy she was that he was here to spend Christmas with her and her family.

Of course, it hadn't been Alvin's idea; it had been Dave's, the man fed up with Alvin's "selfishness." In his mind, he hadn't been acting selfish at all, but rather he had only been trying to help, not because he wanted everything his way. Quite the contrary. He just wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly, and while Theodore and Simon were quite skilled in the culinary arts (the three of them having often cooked for themselves while Dave was working late) he still wanted to make sure they were doing everything correctly. Naturally, his family had become quite annoyed with him constantly getting in their way and being a nuisance and so they unanimously agreed that he would be better off with spending Christmas with his surrogate family this year. While he did understand that they still loved and cared about him a great deal, they had gone the extra mile to explain to him that they weren't sending him away because they hated him or were angry with him. In his mind, they could have always politely asked him to leave them alone and go do something else to keep himself busy, but had to admit even to himself that he liked this option all the more.

When the white skunk finally approached the sofa she sat on her diapered bottom and reached up to the red-clad chipmunk, signaling that she wanted to be picked up. He did so tenderly, cradling her in his arms and smiling down at her while he lightly tickled her belly, making her giggle. God, how he loved her laugh! She had the cutest little laugh! He leaned down and gently planted a tender kiss on her forehead before regarding the television and asking her if she wanted to watch something. She answered his inquiry by taking the remote and turning on the television and beginning to change the channels, the room constantly fading to black before being flooded with light once again by the colorful pictures that talked and moved about on the wide screen. She finally settled, much to his dismay, on _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The M-Rated Version_ on Comedy Central. What made this worse was that the show was uncut, which he found strange, but decided not to question it.

He looked down at her, a disgruntled expression on his face. "You really want to watch this?"

The remote still in her tiny paws, she looked up at him, beaming, and nodded her head, a wide smile on her face, before she turned back to the television screen.

He let out a groan and muttered, "All right." There was nothing he could to change her mind and, unfortunately, he didn't have the heart to snatch the remote away from her and change the channel to some more "manly" show on television. If there was one thing he hated it was seeing her upset. It killed him as much as it did when he saw Theodore upset about something. He rested his head back on the cushioned pillow that was the backrest of the sofa, the white skunk still in his lap, and prepared himself to be tortured for the next twenty-two minutes until the show finally ended and they could change the channel to something that he liked. If she didn't like it, she could always go to her room where she could play with her stuffed animals and such until dinner was ready.

As this thought crossed his mind, he glanced up at the clock that was on the wall to his right. It was only thirty minutes after five. With any luck the library would be closing soon and the boys would be back soon, just in time for dinner, whenever that would be. He had eaten very little throughout the day and therefore, was practically starving. He would have gone in the kitchen to get himself something to eat if doing so wouldn't run the risk of him spoiling his appetite. Besides, there would be plenty of food to satisfy his appetite. Being her two sons were binge eaters (Marshmallow was too when it came to milk) she made lots and lots of food for Christmas. The only downside to this was that they ended up eating leftovers for almost a week afterwards, not that either one of them seemed to mind, though.

The only thing he could do to pass the time was watch what was on the screen. The only upside to this show that he could see that it was in traditional animation, unlike so many other recent shows he'd seen. He let out a yawn, longing for the show to be over so he could do something else.

He was quickly invested in the show, however, by the engaging characters and the believable, intriguing situations that the main six characters found themselves in, yet he was quite taken aback by the vulgar language and the graphic violence and sexual content that was involved in the show. One scene in particular that disturbed him was Spike actually raping Rarity when she had refused to go out with him, flat-out turning him down. He was so appalled by this scene that he thought about changing the channel when another scene involving Applejack and Rainbow Dash arguing and turning away from each other, not speaking to one another, before turning around and, quite violently, beginning to make out, both looking as if they were in a war to see who could shove their tongue down the other's throat the farthest. Luckily, Marshmallow appeared to think the same as the screen abruptly changed to black as the channel was changed to something more kid-friendly. She sighed in content and leaned back, snuggling into his stomach and chest as she began to watch an episode of _Hey Arnold_. He smiled down at her and lovingly petted the silver-gray fur on her head, leaning down to once again plant a tender kiss on her head, congratulating her on a job well done in sensing the danger of watching the horrid spawn of Satan that used to be Lauren Faust's vision.

The skunk and raccoon returned shortly afterward with a red fox in tow. Like the raccoon in front of her she also fur of a secondary color that ran from her muzzle all the way down to her rump, it being a very light beige, vanilla type of color, the tip of her tail also being of the same color. Also like the raccoon in front of her she had baby blue eyes, yet her eyes were quite large, making for visible facial expressions, unlike the raccoon that led her inside the house. Like Marshmallow's tail, her tail was quite large, yet extremely fluffy-looking, making anyone who looked upon it want to snuggle with it and use it either as a pillow or as a blanket, although no one was going to try that. Her nose was small, black, rotund, yet extremely powerful when it came to sense of smell, it being much, much stronger than any dog's. The shape of her head was quite odd. It was very round-shaped, whereas the raccoon's was shaped more like an oval, a bell curve.

As the skunk and raccoon entered the house, Marshmallow scampered down from Alvin's lap and crawled over to them, the raccoon bending down and gingerly picking her up and cradling her in his arms, the skunk joining the two and greeting the white skunk. She turned and playfully licked at the skunk's cheek, making him chuckle.

"It's about time you two got back," Alvin said, shutting off the television and standing up. He approached them. "How have you been, Erik?" He hugged the overweight skunk, then turned to the raccoon, giving him the same greeting. "Colin? Doing well?"

"As good as ever," the raccoon replied, smiling as Alvin pulled away. "And you? It's been quite a while since we've talked."

Alvin nodded in agreement. "True. We'll have to speak more frequently." He finally turned to the red fox and tilted her head up via placing a finger underneath her chin. "And who's this pretty little fox?"

"This is Rita," Colin remarked, placing his black paws on the fox's shoulders. "Rita Landow, my girlfriend." His motions increased greatly as the red fox moaned and leaned back, obviously enjoying the feeling of the tension in her shoulders being eased away by the raccoon's gentle touches and caresses.

"Oh." The chipmunk's voice was suddenly filled with sadness.

"Not even thirty seconds and already you've fallen in love with her," Colin said, laughing heartily.

Finally, the red fox spoke. "Oh, I don't know." She smiled at Alvin and tilted his head up by the same action he had done to her, closely examining his eyes and face closely, for some odd reason paying close attention to his cheekbones, taking notice of how different his were to his. "You're quite a cutie." She snatched his cap away from him and ruffled the fur on his head, chuckling, before placing his cap back on his head. To her surprise, he took it off and put it on her head, turning it backwards so that the bill was facing her neck.

"It looks good on you," the red-clad chipmunk commented, giggling. His line of vision was suddenly blackened as she put his cap back on him. He adjusted it so that it was back in its proper position, smiling at her.

Colin set Marshmallow down and walked towards the dining room, his black-ringed tail swishing back and forth excitedly, Erik not too far behind him, the skunk feeling hungry seeing as it had been a while since they had both eaten lunch. "Hey, Mom! Dinner almost ready?!"

The skunk mother suddenly turned, her strped tail curling around her waist in the process. "Almost, you two, just be patient. While you're waiting, why don't you go ahead and feed Marshmallow?" She turned back to the stove, continuing to stir whatever it was she was cooking in the pot.

Colin and Erik turned, both jumping, grabbing at their chests as their heartbeats accelerated, upon seeing that Rita was standing behind them. The red fox nodded her head towards the skunk at the stove, indicating that she wanted to know who she was.

"Our mother, Renee," Erik told her.

Rita nodded her head.

Colin turned his head to see that Marshmallow was resting in Alvin's lap, the albino skunk looking quite comfortable. "Hey, Alvin, you wouldn't mind feeding Marshmallow, would you?"

"No, not at all," Alvin replied.

"Great. You just stay there, don't get up. I'll fix the bottle." Erik rushed off to the refrigerator while Colin and Rita tarried off to the bedroom that Erik and Colin shared, paw in paw.

Alvin grabbed the remote and turned the television back on, instantly changing the channel to see if there was anything else good on, feeling that Marshmallow would have liked to watch something during her feeding, although she probably would just fall asleep before she even got a chance to finish the entire bottle. He finally settled on a cartoon from the 1960s, cringing slightly at the horrid animation and the god-awful voice acting. Funny, the voice acting seemed to be worse than the animation itself. Then again, it was an American dubbed version of a show from Japan. As far as he was concerned, America was constantly ruining Japanese shows through their horrid dubs.

Erik arrived a few minutes later with Marshmallow's bottle of milk. Before Alvin could even grab it, Marshmallow seized the baby bottle out of Erik's paws and began chugging on the nipple, kicking her legs and letting out a happy moan as she drank. Alvin gently took the bottom of the bottle while she held onto the upper part of it with her tiny paws, his left hand gently holding onto her head while she smiled up at him and he smiled back. The baby skunk's diaper rustled audibly as she kicked her legs. She seemed to love the sound of her diaper rustling as she took one paw off the bottle to rub the front of her diaper.

Erik sat down next to the pair, crossing his legs and arms and watching the television, every now and then glancing down at Marshmallow and smiling, glancing up at Alvin afterward and grinning at the red-clad chipmunk. His foot bobbed up and down as he shook his leg, his striped tail brushing against the backrest of the sofa, its tip just barely touching Alvin's cheek, making him giggle like a schoolgirl, which Erik found somewhat comical.

As time passed on, Marshmallow's eyelids began to droop and grow heavy, sleepiness startng to take her over, and she was only halfway through the bottle. If she didn't finish it she could always finish it when she woke up from her nap. Or, if she preferred, she could drink the rest of it in her crib until she fell asleep. Most of the time it was the latter. By that time she was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open. Her tail bounced against the armrest in front of her, as if it was an effort of hers, although futile, to stay awake. Obviously, it wasn't working as her eyelids seemed to only grow heavier as the minutes trickled on, the seconds being counted down by the tick-tocking of the clock that was still plastered on the wall to their right. Luckily, the nosie from the television and the noise coming from the kitchen were more than enough to block it out.

With a burp and a yawn, Marshmallow stretched before patting and rubbing her full belly, an audible sloshing coming from her abdomen as she moved about in Alvin's lap, getting comfortable, snuggling up close to him, burying her face in his stomach and gently clutching at his clothing, preparing herself to go to sleep, her tail curling around her waist to serve as a blanket.

Erik chuckled. "Looks like somebody's sleepy." He gently picked her up and held her out at arm's length, holding onto her by her armpits. "Is little baby Marshmallow sleepy?" She answered his question through a yawn. He chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes." He brought her close to his chest as he stood up and said, "Come on, sweetie. You look like you're in the mood for a nice nap." He walked down the hall, his bloated stomach causing him to waddle like a fattened up duck.

Alvin watched them go until they disappeared into Marshmallow's bedroom-the nursery. He turned back to the television, but his mind wasn't focused on it. His mind wandered to his siblings and Dave and he wondered what they were doing at the moment. They were probably preparing to enjoy their Christmas dinner, very much like he and his adoptive family were about to. He wasn't sure why, but Christmas seemed to bring out the pig in not only him, but Simon and Dave as well, so thankfully Thedoore didn't have to feel self-conscious about how much he ate since the entire family tended to overeat during the holiday, so much so that they were all rather tired after eating so much and usually went to take a nap, Alvin falling asleep on the living room couch while he was busy watching the football game. Meanwhile, the others went to their respective beds and lied there for however long they desired until their hunger awoke them and prompted them to tarry downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat in order to satisfy their ravenous appetites.

He figured such would be the same case with his adoptive family. Based on what he'd seen of her, he guessed that Rita was, very much like Erik and Colin, a binge eater due to how distended her stomach was, and yet like Erik she didn't seem to be too bothered by it. If anything, she seemed to barely noticed how fat she was. It was either that or she didn't care. It was probably the latter, if he had to guess. As soon as they were through eating they would all probably go take a nap, Rita most likely opting to stay with them since she wouldn't have the energy to go home, if she even had a home, that is. Given that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, according to Colin at least, she and the raccoon would sleep together, whereas Alvin himself would be forced to sleep with Erik. Marshmallow would sleep in her crib and Renee would sleep in her own bed. For how long, he didn't know, and he honestly didn't care. A nap would do him some good and would wear off the inevitable stomachache that was surely to come from having overeaten.

Unfortunately, the Christmas dinner would be their regular meal for the next few days, the one thing about Christmas that Alvin disliked, and he was sure he wasn't the only one. Christmas dinner was nice when it was hot and fresh, but the food quickly wore out its welcome when he was forced to eat what was left over in order to get rid of it. They always had the option of giving the leftovers to Lily, but if they did that the poor girl would be too bloated to move. However comical the situation may have been, they wouldn't dare feed any of the scraps to the family dog, knowing how sensitive a dog's stomach was.

"And here's Mr. Snuggles," Erik cooed, handing Marshmallow her stuffed teddy bear. He raised the railing of the crib before reaching down and ruffling the silver-gray fur on her head while she resumed drinking from her bottle, now only having one paw on it while her free arm was wrapped around Mr. Snuggles' neck. "Sleep tight." With a swish of his tail he walked out of the room, shutting off the light and leaving the bedroom door ajar so he and the other occupants could properly hear her if she needed changing or anything else during her nap, in spite of the fact that they had the baby monitor resting on Marshmallow's changing table and the other one resting on the coffee table that rested between the sofa and the television.

When he walked back in the lviing room, Alvin was still sitting on the living room sofa, the remote in his hand, the light on the walls constantly flickering to black and then color. He crashed down on the sofa, sitting directly beside the chipmunk, letting out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his temples, leaning forward, his stomach rumbling as he did so. He looked over at Alvin. "Say, you hungry?"

The red-clad chipmunk gave a light chuckle, nodding his head in agreement while he mindlessly continued to change the channels in a futile attempt to find something entertaining to watch. "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

The skunk gave a nod, turning his head to the television to see Alvin abruptly change the channel upon seeing that an episode of _Johnny Test_ was on. "The rest of us haven't eitehr. Mom worked through lunch and me and Colin were at the library."

Alvin chuckled. "You'd love my brother Simon."

"Bookworm kinda guy?"

"Yeah. Always has his nose in a book."

"So I guess that makes you like Rainbow Dash, eh? Thinks people who read books are eggheads, too cool to be caught reading a book?"

"Who?"

"I assume you're not a fan of _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_."

Alvin proudly shook his head. "Nope. I'm not a brony, not into gay crap."

Erik politely dropped the subject, not wanting to get into an argument over the animated television show, knowing that Alvin was too prideful and too masculine to bring himself to watch the show.

Alvin was grateful that the topic was dropped so abruptly. He was appalled when he found out that Theodore was a fan of the show, but was simply struck mute when he found out that Simon was also a fan of the show. The two of them recorded the show whenever they didn't have the chance to view it, the two of them preferring to sleep in on Saturday and watch the show in the afternoon. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who was concerned for his brothers. When Dave had found out about his youngest sons' latest obsessions, wondering whether or not he should be worried and have them tested for some mental disorders, making Alvin laugh hysterically in the process seeing as he had been thinking the exact same thing. However, when Simon and Theodore had talked Dave into watching the show with them, their surrogate father came to really enjoy the show, agreeing to buy them the seasons when they came out on DVD.

A silence fell over the pair, Alvin finally settling on an episode of _Futurama_ to watch, much to Erik's approval, he noticed. He set the remote down and crossed his arms over his chest and crossed one leg over the other, coughing into his hand in the process, clearing his throat.

"Hey! Somebody! A little help here, please?!"

Both skunk and chipmunk looked down to see Rita's head and part of her body were in the doggie door. The fat red fox was currently clawing at the floor in a futile attempt to get through the door.

Erik groaned and shook his head. "Not again, Rita!"

"Shut up and help me," the fox demanded.

Sighing, Erik got up and opened the front door, going outside and closing the door yet again. Turning he saw that the fox's fat, round rump was in front of him, as was her large, bushy tail and her short, fat legs. He smiled as her tail swished back and forth. Hesitantly, he brought his paws forward to push her forward, only to draw back at the last second. Breathing for a couple of seconds he finally brought his paws forward and pushed slightly, raising her butt up in the process. He heard a moan from her. Turning, he attempted to psuh her through with his back, making her moan a bit louder. Her legs kicked as the pleasure swept through her.

"You know what? Forget getting me through the door. Just keep doing that. It feels _really_ good! Mmm! Oh, God, that feels so good! Ooohhh! Keep pushing, baby!"

"You know, Rita, if I didn't know better," he was interrupted by a grunt as he struggled to get the bloated, fattened fox through, "I'd say you were getting some kind of sick pleasure from this."

She chuckled. "No shit, Sherlock. Keep going!" She reached a leg back to gently caress his crotch with her toes. She felt him smack her leg away. Luckily, she got the message and didn't try the act again.

"You should really know when to quit eating, you know that?" Erik groaned, pushing his paws against her rear as hard as he could.

"Look who's calling the kettle black, tubby!" She looked towards Alvin. "Go in the kitchen and get some butter. We can use it to serve as a lubricant."

The red-clad chipmunk nodded and retreated to the kitchen, appearing seconds later with a bowl of butter and a butter knife, both of which he handed to Erik once he'd opened the door.

The plump skunk took the items and covered the knife in a thick layer of butter before spreading it along the frame of the doggie door, which turned out to be harder than he expected due to the fact that Rita's bloated stomach took up almost the entire frame of the doggie door.

"If you're hungry, why don't you cover my butt in butter and lick it off?" Rita suggested.

Erik angrily smacked her bottom, making her moan in pleasure in the process. "Would you knock it off?"

"Hey, could you do that again, a bit harder this time if you please."

"Stop it!"

Rita sighed. "Fine. Spoil all my fun." She rested her arm on the floor and cupped her chin in her paw, tapping her fingers against the floor, letting out a moan once again when she felt the slick butter being applied to her thick thighs. The cold temperature of the butter sent a chill through her spine, yet felt so good that she felt as if she was going to have an orgasm at any moment.

Alvin chuckled. Like Rita, he was enjoying himself. He liked watching Rita's various reactions to what was going on behind her. He dared to say that he himself would be enjoying the moment if he'd been in the same position.

Once he had a thick layer of butter covering the frame of the doggie door, Erik once again attempted to push her through. This time the attempt proved to be less frustrating for him as he felt Rita's body slowly but gradually slide through. He backed up, got on all fours, and rammed his head at her rump, succeeding in getting her through, the fattened red fox sliding a few feet along the carpet due to the impact. WIth the bowl of butter and the butter knife in his paw, he opened the door and walked through, noticing that Rita's thighs still had a good amount of butter on them. He swiped some off with his finger and stuck his finger in his mouth, a grin appearing across his face. He turned to Alvin and motioned for the red-clad chipmunk to join him. The red-clad chipmunk did so without question and both got on their knees and licked off what remained of the butter from Rita's thighs. It seemed she also enjoyed the activity, for she moaned in pleasure and her thick beige-tipped tail swished about, occasionally hitting them in their heads.

"There," Erik said, patting Rita's enormous rear, "all clean. You can get up now."

Sighing and rolling her eyes, the red fox stood up, though her short legs caused her to lose her balance and stumble backwards. She was caught by the arms by Alvin. She smiled up at him, thanking him, complimenting him on his gorgeous eyes, and him doing the same as she. Once she had her balance once again, she waddled over to the couch and sat down, being quickly joined by Erik and Alvin.

"What were you doing outside anyway?" Alvin questioned, glancing over at the portly red fox.

"I buried a T-bone steak around the backyard," she explained. "I was looking for it," she shook her head, "but didn't find it."

Erik leaned towards the right and patted her belly. "Don't worry. Dinner will be ready shortly."

"God willing," Alvin muttered, rubbing his stomach. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, Rita, there you are," Colin chirped, making the three parties jump all at once. He walked over to the trio and squirmed his way in between Erik and Rita, his ringed tail smacking them in the heads as it bobbed back and forth, not that any one of them minded. As he sat down both Erik and Rita went to put their arms around the raccoon, the former glaring at the red fox as their paws touched.

Looking at the scene, Alvin got the feeling that Erik and Rita didn't exactly get along, probably because the skunk was secretly, madly in love with the raccoon, not that the raccoon knew. For some reason, Erik was so fond of the red-clad chipmunk that he had confided in Alvin about his secret love for Colin, the skunk having fallen in love with the raccoon over the years, during which Colin had shown the skunk a great deal of affection, affection that the skunk's mother had never shown him since she'd been so busy with work, leaving Erik to look after Marshmallow. With Colin's help, the two had practically raised the white skunk themselves.

Rita angrily smacked Erik's paw away and wrapped her arm around Colin, pulling him close. The raccoon leaned until his head was in the fox's lap. She petted the fur on his head, her fingers trailing down the long stripe of dark brown fur that ran from his muzzle down the center of his back, his tail happily hitting the backrest of the sofa. Without realizing it, the raccoon stuck his thumb in his mouth and began sucking on it, closing his eyes and preparing to go to sleep.

Seeing how troubled Erik was over Rita's attitude towards him, Alvin affectionately put an arm around him and pulled him close, breathing in the skunk's scent as he took a whiff of his head. For a skunk, the smelliest creature on the face of the planet, he actually smelled quite good, probably because hygiene was a high priority of his, which was odd considering the fact that his table manners and a good physique were something to be desired. Still, Alvin couldn't deny the fact that Erik looked so cute as a little fatty. Like Theodore, it was hard for him to picture Erik as a very thin skunk. In his mind, Erik looked better fattened up.

The four watched television in silence. Soon, only two of them remained: Rita and Alvin. Erik and Colin had both fallen asleep, the two awake parties stroking their partners respectively. The tails of the two sleeping parties were quite awake, seeing as how they were constantly moving about, even twisting and curling around each other while their feet lightly touched, nudged, and wrestled each other.

The two were suddenly jolted awake as all four of them heard a high-pitched crying coming from down the hall.

"That's probably Marshmallow," Colin suspected, sitting up. "I'll go get her." He hopped off the sofa and trotted down the hall (much to Erik's dismay, Alvin noticed). He gently pushed the door open and wasn't surprised to see Marshmallow standing up in her crib, paws tightly gripping the railing. At the sight of him, she instantly reached out for him, squealing, "Daddy!" He couldn't help but smile at the name she'd come to call him when she was role-playing as his baby, seeing as he had been the father and Erik the mother during the time when they'd been raising her. He walked over and gently picked her up, holding her close to his chest. At this she smiled and nuzzled her face in his soft white fur covering his chest, clutching a patch of it with a paw. He reached down and lightly ran a finger under her shirt and tickled her belly, making her giggle and squirm in the process, her massive white and silver-gray tail swatting at his thigh. "How's my baby girl?"

She smiled up at him and lightly squeezed the front of her diaper, making the smell of urine all the more noticeable.

"Looks like somebody needs a diapee change," he stated, smiling.

"Dinner's ready," Renee called.

He grabbed a diaper from the crate of diapers underneath the changing table, along with some baby wipes, and grabbed a mat from the closet and carried her to the kitchen, a diaper in one paw and her attached to his hip. As he entered the kitchen, he noticed that Erik, Alvin, and Rita were already seated at the table while Renee was busy setting out the food on the table. Like the others he couldn't help but salivate at the very look and smell of the food. He managed to compose himself so that he was able to set the mat down on the table before setting Marshmallow down on it, setting the diaper beside her as he went to untape her wet diaper, and he couldn't but smile as he watched Marshmallow's reactions to what was going on.

Marshmallow was the perfect picture of contentment as she lied quietly on the table and let Colin diaper her, sucking on her thumb and holding onto one of her feet while he was doing it, her tail wagging happily. She was so obviously enjoying it that Colin couldn't help but smile wider. He also looked like he was enjoying being a daddy, babying his baby girl.

Rita tactfully asked if Marshmallow actually even really needed her diapers. Colin replied that no, she didn't exactly need them; she just liked the way they felt, as he and Erik did also. He explained to the fox that while raising her it had been hell trying to potty train and wean. Eventually, Marshmallow had agreed to go along with the potty training, being that she didn't want to have to constantly go to the school nurse for a change, thus causing her to get out of class and probably miss something important. They had somehow succeeded in weaning her, but more often than not she preferred drinking from a baby bottle instead of an actual glass or cup, not that anyone in the family minded. After all, she was the baby of the family and so it made sense that she would enjoy being treated like a baby, and it made it even better that the family enjoyed diapering and babying her.

Erik folded up the dirty diaper and threw it in the trash before returning to his seat, smiling as he watched Colin attach the tapes to the front of Marshmallow's fresh diaper.

The white skunk's diaper rustled as Colin picked her up and kissed her on her nose. "All clean." He kissed her on the nose once again before lifting up her shirt and blowing a raspberry on her belly, making her laugh wildly and squirm about in his arms. He ruffled the silver-gray fur on her head before handing her over to Renee, who strapped her into her high chair that was between her and Colin's seat.

Colin sat down at his seat. As fate would have it, his seat turned out to be next to Erik's, much to the skunk's delight, he noticed. Alvin and Rita were sitting beside each other in front of him and Erik.

The topic of saying grace before the meal had been brought up with the family and they had discussed it quite a bit before Christmas, struggling to decide if it was proper for them to say grace even if they weren't a religious-minded family. In the end, they decided that there was a huge difference between saying grace due to religious purposes and saying grace to show that they were thankful for what they had, so they decided to say grace before the meal, each member of the family, including Alvin, Rita, and Marshmallow, bowing their heads and closing their eyes while Renee led them in prayer. Luckily, the prayer lasted less than a minute, as one would expect, and they were quickly passing around dishes and serving one another, the group making idle conversation in the process.

Before fixing their plates, Colin and Renee fed Marshmallow, each one with a spoon or a fork in their paws, the white skunk happily accepting the food, stuffing her cheeks with food before chewing and swallowing, letting out a happy moan as she chewed, patting and rubbing her stomach as she swallowed.

Colin lightly poked her belly, chuckling to himself as he said, "Eat up, sweetie. You're looking a little thin, don't you think?"

Marshmallow giggled and poked her own belly before reaching up and poking Colin in the nose. She turned her head to the right and opening her mouth as Renee fed her some more mashed potatoes, turning her head back to Colin and accepting a forkful of macaroni and cheese whens she felt him poking her in the cheek with the fork. Her tail swished happily as she was fed, her diaper rustling while she moved her legs. She seemed to be moving her legs just for an excuse to hear her diaper rustle.

Erik and Alvin seemed to be too caught up in watching Marshmallow enjoying herself that they themselves forgot to eat. They thought about joining Colin and Renee, stuffing the white skunk's cheeks even more, thus, hopefully, making her gain a few extra pounds. She was much too skinny. A few extra pounds wouldn't hurt her in the slightest. If anything, it would only make her cuter. Rita, on the other hand, seemed to be only interested in stuffing her face, not that anyone was paying her any mind, though.

Marshmallow eventually pushed the food away, turning her head away, signaling that she was full. She was taken out of her high chair and allowed to crawl around the room. She sat on the floor, making her diaper rustle as loudly as possible by rubbing the front of it. To the untrained eye it would look as if she was masturbating. In fact, when Erik and Colin had first seen this they had called her doctor and asked if they should be concerned. The doctor explained that she was most likely rubbing the front of her diaper either because she liked the sound of her diaper rustling, or because she liked the way her diaper felt. Either way they had no reason to be concerned. She was given a bottle of sweet milk by Colin to help her wash down the food she'd consumed, although looking back now it seemed rather odd that they hadn't bothered to give her anything to drink with her meal. She happily moved her legs, sucking on the nipple of the bottle, a huge grin spreading across her face. She fell on her back and began rolling back and forth while she consumed the warm milk that was mixed with honey and just a hint of nutmeg.

Colin watched her for a while, making sure that she was safe and that she wouldn't accidentally choke on the milk, before turning and beginning to fix his plate. Surprisingly, the food was still slightly hot, though it had cooled to where it was still warm. He piled his plate high with food ranging from rotisserie chicken to dressing and macaroni and cheese. He was saddened when he found that the desserts hadn't been laid out yet, only the meal. He didn't complain and helped himself to a large amount of platefuls of food, as were the other four members of the family while Marshmallow continued to crawl around the room, drooling, looking for something to do, something to play with. Eventually she just sat and sucked on her thumb.

What remained of the meal, which wasn't much, was wrapped up in tin foil and placed in the fridge while the desserts, the items of food that everyone was really after, were placed out on the table. Once again, Marshmallow was placed in her high chair and given a small slice of pecan cake and a small slice of cheesecake, the white skunk not able to decide between the two, whereas the others had a quite a vast helping of dessert, especially Erik, Colin, and Rita, while Alvin merely ate one slice of cheesecake and that was it.

Her sense of smell allowed Rita to smell the cake in the oven, a last-minute dessert that Renee had decided to bake. The very smell of it made her salivate and question when the cake would be ready, reassured afterward that the cake would be done in just a few short minutes.

Alvin's mind wasn't on food. His attention, for some odd reason or another, was on Erik and Colin. By this time Erik had scooted his seat closer to Colin. It was clear as day that the chubby, yet cute and loveable skunk was in love with the raccoon that he was sitting a mere couple of inches away from, yet Colin either seemed oblivious to it or he was so infatuated with Rita that he wasn't picking up on the signs. Besides that, Alvin speculated that Erik was too scared to tell Colin how he felt, him being terrified of rejection. The skunk, Alvin knew from personal experience, didn't take rejection very well at all.

As Colin turned, he came face to face with Erik, who was leaning for and attempting to kiss him. Turning around, he grabbed the nearest thing, which turned out to be Marshmallow, and held her out at arm's length, turning his head away. His ears gave a twitch when he heard a smooching sound, followed by Marshmallow's giggle and a surprised exclamation of "Marshmallow?!" from Erik.

Marshmallow grabbed either side of Erik's head and pulled him close, placing a loving smooch on his nose before letting go, giggling afterward while Erik wiped his nose off with the back of his paw. She leaped out of Erik's arms and cuddled with him, nuzzling her face in the soft black fur that covered his chest, sticking her thumb in her mouth and sucking on it. He couldn't help but wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly, stroking her head gently, making her tail twitch and thump against Erik's legs.

Alvin let out a frustrated growl while watching the pair. "You're so cute!"

Marshmallow gave him a knowing look and laughed.

"That's the problem, isn't it?" Erik asked, looking at her while he held her out at arm's length. "You're so cute that no one can stay mad at you for long, can they?" He chuckled and gave a soft noogie, holding her close to him once again. "I love you." He rocked her back and forth, her eyelids becoming heavy, the soft motion of Erik's arms luring her to sleep.

A moan caused all four friends to glance over at Rita. "Mmm! That cake smells delicious! Bring it over here, would you?" She motioned with her arms.

"Let it cool off for a while before getting a slice," Renee cautioned, setting the cake in front of the fox, "and don't eat all of it. Save some for the rest of us."

Rita glared at her. "You saying I got a fat ass?!"

"Kind of," Colin noted, chuckling, his laughter faltering instantly when his girlfriend glared at him.

"I'll be in the laundry room if anyone needs me," Renee announced, walking off towards the door in the kitchen that led to the garage.

The next fifteen minutes seemed to be absolute torture for Rita, the red fox strugglign to keep herself busy until the cake cooled enough to where she could actually get a slice, offering some to the others; each of them declined, none of them feeling too hungry at the moment to the fact that they'd eaten so much already. At long last, she was allowed to get a slice. By this time, Colin had moved to her side of the table. Alvin guessed that it was because he'd been crepped out by the fact that Erik had tried to kiss him, however cute it may have looked.

"Colin, why don't you try some?" Rita suggested, her cheeks crammed with cake. She cut off another slice of cake and held it out to him. "Go on, try it."

He pushed the cake back. "Rita, I said no."

"Come on, just try a little bit."

He pushed back even harder, the tone in his voice becoming annoyed. "No/"

The expression on her face hardened and she spoke through gritted teeth, the tone in her voice matching that of Colin's. For some reason, though, her voice lowered instead of increasing in volume. "Eat the cake!"

"Piss off, Rita!" He grabbed the nearest thing and threw it in her face. This turned out to be his drink, and the liquid completely covered the soon shivering red fox.

Unfortunately, this pissed Rita off something fierce! She angrily and violently kicked Colin in the face, knocking him to the floor. She got out of her chair and went to attack him further.

"Oh, hell, no," Alvin roared, getting up to defend the fallen raccoon. "You best sit your ass back down, girl!" He was brutally socked in the back of the head and he soon also was on the floor. He tasted carpet and his ears were being pierced by Marshmallow's sharp, shrill crying. He couldn't blame her. No doubt she was scared. He smiled when he heard Erik trying to calm her down.

"Get up!" She kicked Alvin in the hip. "Get up!" She kicked him harder.

Groaning, gripping his sore side, he rolled over onto his back and began backing away from her. She advanced towards him, still barking for him to get up. He did so shakily, the back of his head throbbing. He felt dizzy, probably the aftermath of the blow to his head. His hand shook as he reached back behind him, and he flinched as he a sting of pain as he brushed his fingertips against it. A few stray tears leaked from his eyes due to the pain. No matter how hard he tried, the tears still showed. His legs shook, his knees knocking together. Below him Colin was still on the ground, shaking. The raccoon had a bloddy nose and a few deep cuts from where Rita had struck him.

He pointed a shaking finger at the scowling red fox. "Let me tell you something. Don't you ever-"

She cut him abruptly. "No, let me tell you something, boy! Don't you ever come between me and my boyfriend, you got that? I'm not going to have some pampered, spoiled little brat tell me what I can and I can't do!"

His face fell at her words. He looked down at his feet. Surprisingly enough, his stomach had distended due to the large amount of food he had eaten, thus preventing him from seeing his feet fully. He could only see his toes, just barely.

"Are you going to stand there and let her talk to you like that?" Erik demanded. He gently placed Marshmallow in her high chair and strapped her in for her protection, before making his way over to the trio.

Rita turned to Colin and slapped him across the face. "Stupid moron!" She was suddenly shoved against the wall as Erik shouted angrily, "Don't fuckin' hit my brother, bitch!" Sneering, she took a few steps towards him, making the usually shy skunk to back down significantly. He backed up, his striped tail curling between his legs. She continued to glare at him.

"Stay out of it," Colin warned.

Rita turned to the raccoon, that same scowl still plastered on her face. "I can't be with someone like you." Her voice was soft, low, yet its tone was quite menacing. "Two worthless, spoiled little brats-" She was interrupted once again as Erik suddenly grabbed at the fur on her chest and shoved her against the wall and began delivering a flurry of fists towards her face and body, not bothering to give her any room to fight back. She delivered a heavy blow to his jaw, knocking him to the floor. Once he was down she began to relentlessly kick him in the stomach and chest, his shuddered gasps and groans of pain being the only sounds that were uttered by him. Not too far away, he heard Marshmallow screaming, crying, and yet there was nothing he could do to comfort her. What was Alvin doing, stuffing his face? How come Alvin wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing and protecting, comforting her?

After several deep blows, Rita finally backed off, giving him some time to catch his breath, which wasn't exactly easy seeing as how he was in a great deal of pain. His legs shaking he managed to get himself up. He wiped some dry blood from the corner of his mouth. He soon found himself lying on his back on the floor yet again as a powerful blow was delivered to his mouth. He looked up just in time to see Rita launching herself towards him. He flung her over his head with his legs and quickly rolled over onto his stomach to watch the result. She crashed into one of the cabinet doors. Picking herself up she stumbled around the kitchen floor as if she was in a drunken stupor, which actually wouldn't have been too out of place for Colin since the raccoon had seen her quite drunk on a number of occasions, not that Renee or anyone else knew anything about it.

Without waiting for her to regain her composure, Erik launched himself towards her and began to once again beat her relentlessly against the head with his fists while Colin was screaming for Erik to stop and Marshmallow continued to weep, attempting but failing to drown out the noise. As for Alvin, the corpulent skunk didn't have the slightest clue as to what had happened to him. In all honesty, he was quite surprised by the fact that his mother hadn't already come in the room to break up the fight and to give him a proper scolding and a lecture on how to treat a lady properly. It was probably due to the fact that Renee didn't much care for the fox herself and therefore thought that a good beating would do the fox some good. To top it off, he thought about turning around and giving a faceful of skunk musk, but thought that perhaps that would have been too cruel. With her hibernating this year and all chances were that she wouldn't get any chances to bathe, not that she would care, mind you.

Rita, battered and bruised beyond recognition, eventually kicked Erik away from her, knocking the fat skunk on his furry rump. Blood covered her face from where he had beaten and scratched her, some of the cuts considerably deep and painful looking. The areas of her face that looked the most damaging were her nose and mouth, although her ears and eyes were badly bruised as well. Shaking and a hateful, spiteful look in her eyes that sent the message that she wanted to kill him, she stumbled towards the threshold and out the front door, limping along the way, blood dripping along the stainless, clean carpet from where her legs had somehow gotten cut and bruised, probably as a means of Erik violently kicking her.

An eerie silence fell among the four after the front door was slammed shut, a few loose pictures being knocked to the floor and others being made askew in the process. Erik still lay on the floor, panting, his chest rising and falling while his heart rate decelerated. He looked around him to see that Colin was shaking uncontrollable, a shocked and scared look in his eyes, as if the raccoon was having trouble processing who the skunk on the floor was. In one corner of the room was Alvin, the red-clad chipmunk cowering and looking away. Finally, underneath the kitchen table was . . . "Oh, my God . . . Marshmallow . . ."

The white skunk had scrambled for cover, taking shelter underneath the table when Erik had put her down to defend Colin. She had her paws over her ears, her trembling knees drawn up to her chest, her white and silver-gray tail limply wrapped around her ankles. Slwoly, tears streaking down her face, she opened her eyes and looked around and jumped when she spotted Erik looking at her, as if her brother would suddenly attack her without warning, for no apparent reason whatsoever.

"Come here, Marshmallow," Erik said softly, gesturing with his arms. "It's okay. Come here, baby. It's okay."

Timidly, the white skunk crawled out from under the table, her diaper rustling loudly as she moved. Slowly, she made her way towards her brother and crawled into his lap, cuddling close to his chest, smothering her face in his soft black fur while he held her close, stroking her fur, shaking himself while he tried his best to get her to calm down. She pulled away from him and nodded her head when he asked if she was okay. She smiled when he gently wiped her tears away. Hearing footsteps he looked up to see that Colin was checking on Alvin, and he smiled to himself.

Marshmallow was carried to her room and laid in her crib for a nap, Erik hoping that it would help her to calm down. He fixed her a bottle of milk before going to his bedroom to take a nap himself at Colin's suggestion. At the moment a nap sounded lovely. So all five members of the family laid down to rest for the afternoon until dinner was ready, all of them quite shaken from the sudden nightmarish turn of events that had occurred in the kitchen within the blink of an eye, in less than thirty seconds. They were constantly asking each other if they were all right and the others, trembling all the while, would reply that they were shaken and still frightened, but otherwise all right. They ended up sleeping through dinner and didn't wake up until the following morning. Not surprisingly, Rita didn't return to the Matthews home during said time span.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Come on, Erik, this is going to be fun," coaxed Colin. He sat down beside the plump skunk on the living sofa. He wrapped his arms around the skunk and squeezed tightly. "Come on, buddy. Everyone else is going." He gestured towards Alvin and Marshmallow who were both walking down the hall, headed their way. "Look, Alvin and Marshmallow are going. Come on." He lightly punched the skunk in the arm.

Erik lightly flinched due to the soft blow to his thick, flabby arm. It didn't hurt, to be honest; it just surprised him is all. He looked down, his tail curling around his body and him automatically fiddling with its tip. "I-I don't know. I'm really not that good at ice skating."

"Why do you think we're going to the ice rink?" Alvin questioned. He picked up Marshmallow, chuckling at the way she looked. She looked more like a snowball with all the thick layers of clothes she had on. "It'll be fun. You won't be the only one falling flat on your face." He chuckled.

This statement only seemed to make the skunk feel worse as his ears were flattened against his head. "That's just it. I don't want to embarrass myself."

It was Colin's turn to chuckle. "You care about what people think of you way too much."

"It's true, you do," Alvin agreed.

"You need to learn how to relax, have some fun," Colin encouraged. "To hell with what anyone thinks of you." He leaned over and nuzzled his muzzle into Erik's chest. "Come on. You need to get out and have some fun. Anything sounds better than being cooped up in the house all day. Granted, I'm sure you'd find something to entertain yourself, but still . . ."

Erik sighed. "Well, I was planning on just staying home and watching bad soap operas while eating a carton of ice cream, but . . . this sounds better." He smiled. "Let's go!"

"Great," Colin cheered. "Alvin, be a doll and grab my car keys, would you?"

The four companions went out to the car, Alvin buckling Marshmallow in her car seat and giving her Mr. Snuggles and a bottle of milk to keep her quiet. He sat next to her while Erik and Colin sat in the two front seats, Erik getting as close to Colin as possible. Once again, the raccoon seemed oblivious to the obvious, that Erik was trying to drop hints that he wanted to be more than just friends with Colin. Alvin could see it as plain as day and surely Marshmallow could too. Why couldn't Colin? It was especially obvious when the skunk kept stroking Colin's back with the tip of his tail. Oddly enough, the raccoon didn't seem to mind. In fact, if Alvin's ears weren't deceiving him, it sounded as if Colin was enjoying it.

The Trout Lake ice skating rink wasn't too far from the Matthews home. The rink was already full of children and their parents and older people skating around the ice rink. The parking lot was packed, so Colin had quite a difficult time finding a parking spot. After driving around the parking lot multiple times he eventually discovered an empty spot, although he had to fight for it regarding some rude driver who was constantly honking their horn at the group. Erik flipped the driver off, resulting in the driver attempting to ram the car with their own. At the last second Colin swiftly backed up, causing the car to speed off towards the ice rink. The pressure applied to the ice rink via the car caused the ice to crack and split open, taking the car and several ice skaters with it. The horrified screams of those drowning in the freezing water could clearly be heard by Colin and the others even with the windows rolled up.

"Whoops," Colin said, giving a nervous smile. "Luckily, there's more than just one ice rink in Vancouver." He was quick about leaving, not wanting anyone to trace him to the incident. The possibility of this happening didn't seem likely since there were several people struggling to get the people out of the canyon-szied hole.

Marshmallow leaned to the left, attempting but failing to cuddle with Alvin. The red-clad chipmunk saw what she was up to and leaned to the right, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder while he petted the silver-gray fur on her head, her letting out a sigh of content in the process, her tail thumping against the armrest of her car door.

The group arrived at the Kerrisdale Communty Centre. Like the previous ice rink there were already several people skating about, some in groups and others completely alone. The group went to get their ice skates, Erik and Marshmallow being the first to go and Alvin and Colin helping them get their skates laced up and tied before they got their own. They trusted Erik to keep an eye on Marshmallow while they got theirs and once all four of them had their skates on they slowly went out onto the rink due to Erik and Marshmallow being a little nervous about going out. Alvin and Colin were able to coax the two out, the two holding onto each other's paws just as Alvin and Colin were. However, they suddenly stopped when they heard a loud crunch. Turning, they saw that Marshmallow had lost her balance and had fallen quite hard on her rump. She got up, rubbing her backside and groaning in pain. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and she went on, holding onto Erik's paw all the tighter.

Eventually, Marshmallow and Erik split up, as did Alvin and Colin, and the group went their seprate ways. Still, they kept their eyes on each other for fear that if they didn't someone would get hurt. Poor Erik and Marshmallow were having such a difficult time staying on their own two feet (both of them constantly tripping over their tails or their own two feet) that they considered taking a break and sitting down and watching the others. Colin took Erik aside and helped him get his footing while Alvin got Marshmallow. In his mind, Alvin imagined that such was exactly the way Erik wanted it anyway.

"Keep your eyes on me, okay?" Colin instructed Erik, skating backwards while the skunk skated forward.

Erik smiled. "No problem there." He got a little closer to Colin, wrapping his arms around the raccoon's slim waist. Afraid that he was doing something inappropriate, he backed off, but when he saw that the motion didn't apparently bother Colin he resumed the position, burying his face in the soft white fur on Colin's chest while the two of them continued to skate.

Colin chuckled and ruffled the white fur on Erik's head. "You're doing good so far. Keep it up."

"Thanks," Erik replied.

"Okay, let's do this one little teeny-tiny step at a time," Alvin suggested. He got behind her and lightly gripped her shoulders, propelling her forward. He felt her wrap her tail around his waist, probably as a means of protection rather than showing any kind of affection towards him like Erik was doing with Colin, Alvin could plainly see. He continued to skate forward, moving her forward along with him. "Okay, I'm going to let go now, okay?" When she gave a nod he released her. He only winced when her tail uncoiled itself from his waist and managed to find its way to her front. She lifted a leg and set it down, causing her to trip over her tail and fall flat on her face, making him wince. He skated over to her while she let out a groan of pain, rubbing her nose. He knelt down and examined her face. "You look all right." He smiled. "That's okay. You'll get the hang of it eventually."

She looked down, rubbing the tip of her tail. "I don't know, Alvin." She suddenly glared at her tail and angrily pushed it away. "Stupid tail!" She folded her arms and made an angry face, making her look so cute that Alvin couldn't help but laugh.

"If we can find some tape, we could tape it to your back," he suggested.

She shook her head. "No, I'd look silly and I don't want to lose any fur when you rip it off."

He shrugged. "Well, okay, we don't have to do that. Why don't I get behind you and hold onto your tail. That should help."

She nodded. "Okay." She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up. As she stumbled backward she caught by Alvin, who steadied her and gently pushed her forward. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid that she would yet again trip and fall and injure herself. She felt Alvin gently grip the tip of her tail, keeping it steady and out of the way so she could hopefully become a better skater. Her fears were somewhat evaporated, yet she still retained the fear that she would fall and make a fool of herself, even though no one was paying her any attention and wasn't laughing at her when she tripped and fell. Looking around she noticed that there were several children who were tripping all over themselves and she felt a little better, not as self-conscious about her poor skating skills.

"You're doing great," Colin complimenting, smiling down at Erik. "Just keep your eyes on me."

Erik nodded his head and continued to move forward while Colin resumed moving backward. Somehow their tails found their way to each other and Erik, feeling the tip of Colin's tail, allowed his to wrap around Colin's until they were pulled together via their tails being wrapped around each other's waists. He hooked his arms around Colin's neck, staring into the raccoon's gorgeous baby blue eyes while the two of them continued to skate.

"Okay, let's try this again," Alvin suggested, holding onto Marshmallow tightly. He gently pushed her forward once he'd let her go and watched as she glided across the ice, wobbling to and fro but otherwise maintaining her balance and not falling and Alvin couldn't help but smile proudly as she continued to move across the frozen ice, her arms outstretched just in case she needed to catch herself if she were to fall again. After having fallen so many times the pair had gotten a helmet and a set of elbow pads and knee pads, making it look as if she was skateboarding rather than ice skating. They both imagined that she must have looked quite silly, but thankfully no one was saying anything or making fun. They'd even gone as far as attaching a pillow to her butt to soften the blow to her bottom as she fell, but the diaper seemed to be doing that job just fine. Maybe if she was fatter, her butt would have been softer and the diaper wouldn't have been needed to soften the blow when she fell.

As she turned, Marshmallow had a huge grin on her face, her tail wagging happily while she skated towards Alvin. She gave him a high-five while he congratulated her on a job well done.

Erik's tail wagged as he stood up on his toes and gently gave Colin a kiss on the raccoon's nose. He pulled away, a happy smile on his face, but his expression fell into one of worry when he saw Colin's expression. He looked away, his tail curling around his feet. "I'm sorry." He started to skate away from the raccoon, but was suddenly pulled back by Colin grabbing him and turning him around and he was surprised to see Colin smiling, which in turn made him smile himself, and his tail yet again began to wag, a happy feeling creeping up in his stomach and warming the rest of his body at the possibility that Colin just might share the same feelings towards him that he had towards the handsome raccoon.

Colin shook his head. "No, don't be sorry, Erik. You just got caught up in the moment, that's all."

Erik's face fell.

"Anyway," Colin went on, "I'm hungry. Let's go see what Alvin and Marshmallow up to, then we'll go grab a bite to eat. Sound good?"

It wasn't until this point in the conversation that Erik realized that he himself was hungry, as indicated by his growling stomach. He gave Colin a nod, suddenly feeling depressed that his hopes had been once again dashed. With Colin, he skated until he spotted the pair sitting at a nearby bench drinking bottles of water.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Colin asked. "Me and Erik here are hungry."

"I could go for a burger," Alvin said.

"I could go for a nice bottle of milk," Marshmallow added, licking her lips.

"Come on, let's go," Erik suggested, gesturing with his paw for the two to get up.

Alvin helped Marshmallow off the bench and helped her skate over to the desk where they deposited their skating shoes before going on their way.

The group decided to go inside and eat. While in line, Erik pulled Alvin aside and asked, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

The red-clad chipmunk shook his head. "No. Why?"

"Would you hate going out with me tomorrow to get Colin's Christmas present?"

Alvin smiled. "No, of course not! What are we getting?"

"Colin's been having some back problems, so I was thinking we could get a hot tub and a new bed, but-but don't quote me on that because I'll have to see if I have enough money."

"If money's an issue I could always pay for half."

Erik smiled. "That's sweet, but I couldn't-"

"No, please, I'd be happy to."

Erik suddenly launched himself at Alvin, shocking the chipmunk when he found Erik's lips plastered to his. Embarrassed and realizing that they were in public, the skunk quickly pulled away, looking away from the red-clad chipmunk. "I am so sorry about. Please forgive me."

Alvin, to Erik's utmost surprise, shook his head. "No, don't apologize." He reached forward and gently caressed Erik's cheek with the back of his hand, making the skunk let out a low moan of pleasure. "I think it's wonderful that you care enough about your best friend to do something that nice for him. You're so sweet." He smiled. "And cute and cuddly and-"

Erik's head jerked up in Alvin's direction so that the two of them were staring at each other face to face. "Do what?!" A few people, including Colin and Marshmallow, looked over at the pair due to the skunk's outburst.

Alvin's cheeks burned red as his eyes darted around the restaurant, his cheeks growing even redder when he discovered so many people looking at him and Erik. He cleared his throat. "Did I say that out loud? No, what I meant to say was-" He stiffened suddenly as he felt Erik's arms being wrapped around his waist. He looked down to discover Erik giving him a tight hug, the skunk's hug pressed agianst his stomach.

Erik pulled away and beamed up at the red-clad chipmunk. "Don't wory, Alvin. I think it's great that you feel that way." He giggled and gently pressed a finger against Alvin's nose. He took Alvin's hand. 'Come on, let's get back in line."

"Need any help cleaning up out there, Erik?"

The skunk turned to look back across the small store counter, almost dwarfed by the big black bear standing behind it. He smiled, smoothing his apron with both paws. "No, I think I've got it, Chandra, but thanks for the offer. Not much to clean up, with only four tables, you know."

"Sounds good. I made up some more of the bran muffin mix so it's ready when you come in tomorrow. I can toss together some cranberry too if you like." The bear motioned towards the display case along one side of the counter. "Those went really well today."

Erik gave a table a quick wipe with a damp cloth, reorganizing the napkin and sugar holder to be perfectly centered, then turned and made a playful waving motion with one paw. "Go! You have studying to do. Get out of here. Oh, hey, take some of the honey oat scones with you while you're at it. I think we made too many of those. Live and learn, you know?"

Eyeing the dozen or so scones still sitting in the case, the big bruin wrinkled her nose and chuckled. "Yeah, thanks for the offer, Erik, but no thanks. I know it's out of character for me, but I don't actually like honey all that much." She flashed a grin, white teeth peeking through her dark fur. "That damn Winnie-the-Pooh stereotyped us bears forever with that whole honey thing."

"Well, that's a relief. I won't have to lock the supply closet where I keep the honey, huh?"

"Not because of me. Besides," she slapped a rather rounded middle, "I have to watch my girlish figure." The bruin chuckled as she draped her apron over a hook behind the counter and picked up a heavy backpack. "See you tomorrow at eleven, then?"

Erik held the door for her and nodded. "I should be able to manage until then. Have a good night, and thanks. Your help made the opening a lot easier."

"Hey, thank you for the job. Where else would I have found someplace where I could bake and watch people enjoy what I produced so personally?" She smiled and stepped out, the door jingling behind her.

Erik smiled to himself and locked the door, then turned to regard his new domain.

It wasn't much, just a little storefront that had previously been an ice cream place. In Vancouver, ice cream places were great in summer, but the rest of the year wasn't quite as lucrative, and the owner had finally closed the doors. The location, though, was great, not far from businesses and several schools. For the small business that Erik had planned for the past two years since he had decided to change his career path, burned a bunch of his savings and gone to culinary school, it was precisely what he had desired.

He leaned against the door and surveyed the shop. Four tables, three seats at the counter, the nice big display case for baked goods, and a drink cooler over against one wall. It wasn't much, but most of the business in this first day had been walk-in and walk-out traffic, drawn in by the sandwich board offerings and the opening day discounts and the smell of coffee. The comments had been encouraging from those people who had tried the various goodies from the case. The skunk's tail wagged softly as he walked back behind the counter. So far, "Erik's Eats" was a hit and may even have taken in a profit. He drew out the cash drawer and stepped into the back, stowing the funds in the small floor safe under the cheap desk.

Unfortunately, running a bake shop was definitely more than putting money away, and there was preparations to do for the morning. He grunted, washed his paws, and got back to work.

He was nearly elbow-deep in a bowl of cookie dough when the door rattled, making the skunk jump in surprise. "I need to get a radio in here," he grumbled, peering out at the door. "We're closed!" He went back to work.

The door rattled again, this time with a light tapping. Erik rolled his eyes. "We're closed!" continued to work the dough together. "Persistence is great if we're open, but come on…"

A lighter rattle caught his attention, and he looked back at the door as the mail slot popped open and a familiar voice called, "I'm sure I look silly doing this, Erik, so could you please open the door? It's freezing out here!"

"Oh, for the love of . . ." The skunk set the bowl down and grabbed a hand towel, wiping cookie dough off his fingers as he hurried to the door and opened it for the slim chipmunk who stood outside with a grin on his furry face. "Didn't I tell you the secret knock?"

"Must've slipped your mind, mister successful businessman," Alvin chuckled, poking his smaller friend in the belly with a light finger as he stepped through the door. "In business one day and already working on banker's hours."

Erik whuffed and laughed as he locked the door behind his friend. "Oh, come on. You know I had to get up at five to get in here this morning."

"I know. You stole the blankets on your way out." Alvin set his bag on a table and reached up, lacing his arms around the skunk's neck and pulling him down for a hug. "How did it go, Erik?"

"Pretty good." Erik squeezed the chipmunk lightly. "The lunch rush was really good. I think having the sandwich board out during the morning rush hour made folks curious, and it sounds like I might want to add sandwiches to the baked goods sometime soon, but I think the honey oat thing didn't work out."

Alvin walked over and peeked in at the lonely-looking honey oat scones. "Do I recall saying something about that? I thought your bear friend would take those home with her."

"I got a talking-to about stereotypes when I suggested it. A.A. Milne is in deep shit with that girl, I tell you."

The chipmunk giggled and settled himself on a barstool as Erik moved back around it and got back to work. "How much more do you have to do tonight, Erik?"

"Not a lot. I just want to get this cookie dough done, then wipe things down and I'll be finished." Erik grinned. "If you want to help, I won't complain."

"Hey, you do all the cooking at home. I'll just heckle for a bit."

"Oh, thanks."

Alvin smirked at the skunk behind the counter and joined him. "Just point me to what you want me to do."

"Well, you can start by bagging up those scones…"

The two friends worked quickly together, Erik chatting proudly about the day as he worked on preparation for the morning. Alvin simply listened happily as he helped tidy the place. Finally, the skunk put away the final bowls and dumped the utensils into the dishwasher. "I think that'll do it." He turned to wash his paws once again. "I think I'm going to have dough in my fur for the rest of my life, though."

Alvin giggled, stepping up behind the skunk and sliding his arms around his waist, snuggling up against his friend's back. "I'm so proud of you, Erik. You're happy at your work for the first time in years. The freelance thing was going to kill you."

"I know. I'm glad too." He stroked the furry arms around his middle and leaned into the warmth. "I've got Colin to thank, of course. He kept us up on the bills and the house while I was in school."

"Hey, teachers are good for something after all." Alvin giggled and nuzzled into the back of Erik's neck, pressing tighter to the skunk's body.

"You're good for a lot of things too, Alvin, you know that." He slipped out from Alvin's grasp and went back to work with getting the place cleaned up and ready for tomorrow's day while Alvin merely tried his best to be as helpful as possible.

"So this model's got multiple jets at each seating spot, three different powers for the jets, and it's certified to use less energy. Plus, it's on sale right now." Leaning over the edge of the hot tub in question, the salesman tapped one of the jet clusters with a webbed paw and grinned. "That's a special design, really relaxes the lower back. No lie, I own this one myself, and when an otter's telling you a water-related product is good, well . . ."

This statement, taken with a grain of salt, of course, aside, Erik couldn't disagree with the merits of the blue fiberglass tub he was studying. Most importantly, it would fit in the spot he and Alvin had picked out next to the back patio with minimal work to get it sorted out. "I think it's a good choice. Let me check with," he glanced around, "er. Alvin? Where'd he get to?"

A tapping from the identical tub next to the one he was looking at quirked one of the skunk's ears up. The cover lifted slightly and a pair of baby blue eyes gleamed from inside. "I like it."

"Oh, for the love of . . . Get out of there!" Erik gave the salesman an apologetic look as Alvin extricated himself from the other tub with a grin. "We'll take it."

"Excellent!" The otter rubbed his paws together happily. "Let's go do some paperwork, hmm? Then, we can arrange delivery and installation."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Last piece, bandit," the red-clad chipmunk at the other end of the sofa said playfully. "Want it?"

Colin grinned at his friend and shook his head. "Help yourself, Alvin. You're younger than me, after all, and I've asked you not to call me that; it makes me sound like a character from a Burt Reynolds movie."

"A very wise decision." Alvin grinned, lifting out the last piece and setting the box aside. "If you don't want the name, get rid of the mask." He made short work of the pizza, then brushed off his hands and tapped the papers in front of him. "So do you get this a little better now?"

"Somehow, yes, you've managed to get it across a lot better than that substitute teacher we had last week. I'm vaguely frightened by that."

Alvin reached over and tapped the raccoon on the shoulder with one big fist and chuckled. "I get it because I don't sleep in class. You should try it sometime."

The slim raccoon stuck his tongue out at his friend and dropped his pencil onto the table. "Yeah, yeah, so sue me if I'm nocturnal."

"I suppose that's a decent excuse. Try it on my math teacher and you might find him a bit less accepting of that, though." Gathering his binders and notes, Alvin refilled his backpack and got up to set it next to the door of the small house, then returned and spead himslef on the sofa, scratching his chest. "So, want to watch a movie or something? I'm sure you've got something here both of us might find enjoyable."

Colin followed suit and got his gear together, setting it aside, and curled up on the other end of the sofa, his tail wrapped around his ankles. "Sounds like a good idea." He watched as the tall chipmunk stood, following his trim body with its slightly curled, shaggy-furry hair across the room, regarding him as Alvin sorted through his videotape collection, finally pulling out something Japanese that he cued up before returning.

"Subtitled," Alvin announced happily. "I know you're a purist with foreign films."

"Excellent!" The raccoon smiled across at his friend and turned to the screen, settling in to watch what turned out to be a reasonable samurai action flick, something he hadn't seen before. They watched mostly in silence, occasionally commenting on some quirk in the subtitling or laughing at a cliched bit.

Halfway through, Colin cranked his head around, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching until the tendons popped with an audible _click_.

Alvin looked across at him. "Sitting in the wrong position?" he inquired, his ears flicking.

"No, I've had this problem for a while," the raccoon replied, shifting his head back and forth. "I was in a car accident a few years ago, and every once in a while this flares up. It's been flaring for the last week now."

The chipmunk shifted on the sofa. "Turn around." Colin looked at him oddly, then shrugged and turned his back to Alvin, then moaned as a pair of small hands pressed on his shoulders, the thumbs kneading into his neck. "I'm pretty good at this." Alvin's fingers proved the truth of this statement as they worked firmly into the raccoon's muscles, smoothing away the pain with gentle motions.

"I'll say," Colin almost purred, leaning back into the touch. "Erik usually does this for me when this comes up. That's part of why it's a little worse than usual tonight."

Alvin worked his fingertips up the top of the raccoon's spine, smoothing through the brownish-grey fur above his shirt. "Yeah, he's been gone for what, two hours? When does he get home?"

His tail swishing softly, Colin closed his eyes and relaxed as Alvin's fingers smoothed up his neck. "Not quite that long. He'll probably be away for another hour or so." He rolled his shoulders a little. "It's been quiet around the house, and I've been having a little trouble keeping myself occupied. I'm so used to having someone around to play with."

"I can imagine. I'm used to playing with my brothers most of the time, but it is nice to be by yourself every now and again, when it's needed." He rubbed over Colin's shoulders and upper back slowly.

He leaned back and peacefully hummed, his tail twitching as he leaned into the rubbing a little more. The humming only intensified as he felt a pair of hands kneading his shoulders. "Say, that's kind of nice," he cooed, leaning into the massage. His eyes began to close.

Alvin grinned. "Is it? I was told once I had magic fingers."

"Oh, you do. You do." Colin shivered, his fur bristling in a wave down to the tail. "I'm filing away your skills in massage for later use. You really don't have to do this, you know."

Alvin replied by continuing to rub Colin's back, using firm pressure as he traced the dark trail of fur that traveled down his spine. "Where does it hurt most?"

"Mmm. A little lower."

Alvin's palm traveled in a firm circle around the lower back. Although his touch was firm, he took care not to aggravate any potential bruises or breaks. He then worked back up to the shoulders as he was treated to a round of intense purring. Smiling, he brushed up and down the arms, parting the coarse fur.

Leaning forward, Colin grabbed a drink and straw and began to sip with the bottle between his legs. His back relaxed while his tongue tangled with the fizz; he swished, finally swallowing as the carbonation subsided. A burp escaped through his nose, burning it along with his throat. "Ah, that's the sweet stuff," he said, his eyes narrowed.

"What is?"

"Both."

Alvin emitted a chuckle and kept rubbing as the two fell silent and went back to movie watching, his fingers kneading the raccoon's muscles and spine, Colin slowly relaxing along the way.

After a moment Colin tossed the straw and gulped down the rest of the beverage. He cooed, letting another burp tingle his nostrils before leaning forward to stretch his back; an audible sloshing came from his full belly as the drink settled. "Hey, man, do you think you could put those magic fingers of yours to work on my tail? That might be sore too."

"Might be?"

"Maybe." The raccoon chuckled.

Alvin paused, his hands lifting away from the fur. "Now wait a minute. Are you sure this is you talking and not just the sugar?"

"Alvin, my friend, of course not." He sat upward again, looking over his shoulder enough to catch a pair of wide eyes and a slackened jaw.

"Well . . ." Alvin began as he felt the tail brushing against his side. "That does make sense. And . . ." He laughed. "That tickles."

"Naturally."

With a reluctant nod, Alvin eased his trembling paws to the tail, pulling away at the last second as though it were scalding. He then let them drift back, resting in the middle. He caught his breath as his heart became a battering ram to his ribs. Upon hearing the purrs resume, he cradled it while using the other paw to trace around each ring up to the base, and then back to the tip where he gently squeezed. The fur was as rough as on his back, at times resembling a bundle of miniature pine needles. "Maybe you should try some conditioner," he suggested while stroking the length of the tail. "I hear it makes you silky smooth and shiny."

Colin only chirped in reply, as he was too busy enjoying himself to say that he didn't need any. With his eyes closed, he bobbed his head while he tapped his paws and feet against the tile as though he were moved by music only he could hear. Had his tail been free, it would have swished as well.

Alvin grinned, beginning to relax as he was pleased that he was pleasing Colin. Lifting the tail by the tip, he scratched underneath, wiggling his fingers in a light, playful motion. Within the same instant he was interrupted by another shiver, this one more intense than the last. His eyebrows rose as he saw Colin's feet clench tightly and then relax as he exhaled.

"Okay, that was _really_ good," Colin shuddered. He continued to purr as he turned sideways, his excited tail doing its best helicopter impression for a moment. "So good, in fact, I'm going to get you a treat." He sprang to his feet and ran off towards the kitchen, returning moments later with a miniature bag of potato chips for the both of them.

As the movie ran down, Colin yawned, emitting a squeak that got laughter from both, Alvin from being amused, Colin from being embarrassed.

"Someone's tired," the chipmunk commented, scratching between Colin's small, rounded ears, getting a nod in return.

"Yeah, I should probably be getting to bed, but that just feels way too good," the raccoon responded, straightening a little. "You probably want to get to bed too."

The chipmunk's fingers stroked down over Colin's shoulders once again, his nails brushing through the fur on Colin's neck, silenence falling over them once again, if only for a moment. He surprised his friend, though, when he spoke. "Colin, would you like to sleep with me tonight?"

Leaning forward, Colin turned around to look at the chipmunk, one eyebrow raised. "Sleep, as in . . ."

Alvin's ears twitched as he smiled. "Well, I just thought it'd be nice so we both wouldn't be so lonely. Frankly, I've been missing having someone to sleep with myself. I'm not really asking for . . . well, anything, really. I just thought that since you mentioned you don't like sleeping alone, maybe you would appreciate some company for the night."

The raccoon swished his ringed tail softly and regarded Alvin for a long moment. "You're okay with just sharing a bed, if that's all that I feel like?"

"Of course, Colin. I don't know how open things are with you and Erik, so I wouldn't want to do anything you wouldn't want to, or anything that might damage that."

Colin shook his head. "Oh, that's not what I was asking, Alvin. I'm just not sure if I'd be willing to do more than sleep."

The chipmunk smiled. "That's what beds are made for, isn't it?"

"Well, that depends on who you talk to." He chuckled at his own joke, and nodded. "Okay. I would appreciate some company tonight. Thanks."

Alvin reached over and ruffled the fur on the coon's head. "Excellent choice." He smiled. "Thank you." He stood and stretched, then turned off the TV. "Well, go ahead and get yourself ready for beddy-bye time, then, bandit. I don't have much of a pre-bed routine myself."

"I'm very much the same way." Colin also stood and followed the chipmunk into the slightly cluttered bedroom, the sheets of his large bed scattered about. "You and Erik are similar housekeepers, anyhow. I always have to make the bed."

"It just gets unmade every night, so I figure why bother?"

Colin stripped off his shirt and stepped into the bathroom. Alvin followed suit, using the bathroom and returning to find the raccoon shedding the rest of his clothing, displaying his muscular form for a moment before tugging the sheets back and slipping into the bed. Feeling just a bit self-conscious, the chipmunk slipped out of his shorts and slid into bed next to Colin, who adjusted the sheets for him and smiled as he reached for the bedside light. "Sleep well, bandit," he murmured as the light flicked off.

"You too, Alvin." Colin sorted himself out in the unfamilar bed, settling onto one side facing away from the other; he felt Alvin shuffling around as well until his back came to rest against Colin's, the bush of his tail draping down over Alvin's body. The warmth and weight of the other form felt just right, and Colin realized he truly had missed sharing a bed with someone else while Erik was gone. It was comfortable, and he smiled as he slipped down into a restful sleep.

Colin woke up in the middle of the night. He turned on his other side to see Alvin sleeping soundly beside him. As quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb his brother, he slipped out of bed and went to the kitchen.

He fixed himself a glass of milk and mixed honey with it. He sat down at the table. He felt his stomach flip when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He hoped that it wasn't his mother. He didn't feel like hearing a lecture about the importance of a good night's sleep.

Erik and Marshmallow entered the dining room.

"What are you doing up?" Colin asked.

"Would you mind me asking why you're up?" Marshmallow asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Colin explained. He took a drink of milk.

"You know what helps me relax?" Erik asked.

Colin and Marshmallow stared at each other, then looked at Erik. "Food?" they both guessed.

Erik nodded. "Right."

"I am a bit hungry," Colin admitted.

"Me, too," Marshmallow agreed.

"Do we still have some leftover spaghetti?" Colin asked.

"We should," Marshmallow stated.

Colin went over to the fridge and looked inside. He pulled out a pot. He took off the lid and took a whiff. "Mm, smells great."

"Well, don't just stand there," Erik said. "Heat some up on a plate and feed me!"

Colin grabbed a paper plate and dumped some spaghetti on it, then put it in the microwave for a minute.

"I'm curious," Erik declared. "What did you eat while on the island?"

"Some gray matter that tasted like trash," Colin explained.

"That should be right up your alley, Colin," Marshmallow stated. "You love digging through trash."

Colin smiled at her.

The microwave beeped and Erik got his plate of spaghetti.

"Marshmallow, you're next," Colin stated.

Finally, Colin fixed his own plate of spaghetti and sat down at the table with his siblings.

"Marshmallow, how did you fare when I was gone?" Colin asked.

"I just moped around the house," Marshmallow replied as she ate another forkful of spaghetti.

"Tell me, Colin," Erik stated. "Do you think I look better fat or thin?"

"When I came off the plane, you looked great," Colin told him. "I didn't even recognize you at first, but I must say you look cuter fat."

Erik grinned. "Melissa thinks so, too."

"Did you guys ever lose hope while I was gone?" Colin inquired.

"Lots of times," Marshmallow told him.

"Mom and I had to take sleeping pills 'cause our worry over you kept us awake," Erik added. "Marshmallow, Melissa, and I got suspended from school because we were emotionally unstable."

"Man, you guys had it rough," Colin said. "Sorry for all the trouble I caused you." He took a drink of milk.

"Well, it wasn't all bad," Erik reassured him. "For example, Melissa got really fat and I got really thin, so it worked out for both of us."

"It was really boring without you here, Colin," Marshmallow declared. "When you left, it was like you took the fun with you. No one felt like celebrating anything."

"Like Erik said, I'm a party animal," Colin said. "I'm the party animal of the family."

"That, you are," Erik agreed. "You were always the fun one."

Marshmallow burped as she finished off her milk. "Well, I'm stuffed."

"That's a first," Colin muttered.

"I'm going back to bed," Marshmallow said. She got up from her seat and went to the sink. She ran water over her plate, washing off the sauce and remains of meat. She rinsed off her glass and put the two dishes in the sink before going down the hall to her bedroom.

Colin and Erik finished their meals shortly afterwards.

Colin started to go down the hall to the bedroom that he shared with Erik. He suddenly stopped noticing that Erik wasn't following him. Walking back in the dining room, he discovered that Erik was still sitting at the table. "Erik, aren't you coming to bed?"

Erik turned his head to look at the raccoon standing behind him. "You go ahead. I'm going to stay up a little longer and snack a little more."

Colin nodded. "All right. Don't stay up too late."

"I won't."

It wasn't until he heard the door to his bedroom close that Erik rose from his seat. Using a chair, he was able to climb onto the counter and open one of the cabinets. This particular cabinet contained items such as snack cakes, Pop-Tarts, granola bars, and boxes of cereal. After pushing aside the boxes of cereal, he stumbled upon his favorite snack: a jar of peanut butter.

With the jar of peanut butter in his paw, he hopped down to the floor and walked over to the dining room table. He set the jar down on the table and took off the red lid.

He read the title on the jar: "Creamy peanut butter." His mother was the only member in the household who liked the other kind of peanut butter: "Crunchy peanut butter." She claimed that it helped her get more protein. As for Erik, Colin, and Marshmallow, they all preferred the creamy kind of peanut butter for several reasons. For one thing, the peanuts that were mixed in with the peanut butter of the crunchy peanut butter got caught in their throats, causing them to choke. Another reason was because making a peanut butter sandwich with the crunchy kind of peanut butter was challenging. This kind of peanut butter wasn't as smooth as the creamy kind of peanut butter, making spreading the peanut butter over the bread a frustrating experience. Plus, when attempting to do so, it only ended up ruining the bread.

Erik sniffed at the brown contents within the jar. It smelled heavenly. He took a little taste off the tip of his finger. It was delicious! He took another nibble, and then scooped up a bigger fingerful. He sucked it off and swallowed the peanut butter without really chewing it first. This stuff was good!

He crammed the peanut butter into his cheeks. The roof of his mouth was coated with the peanut butter. He allowed his tongue to caress it. He attempted to swallow, but couldn't.

The fat skunk paused and tried again. He carefully pulled out one ball of peanut butter and then the other. His cheeks were coated with a fine layer of peanut butter and yet his mouth was dry. He attempted to swallow, but failed. He found that he was unable to move anything. He took a breath and found this too was difficult.

He had to get water! Through watery eyes, he looked across the room to see the sink. It wasn't too far away. He began running towards it, but after only a few feet, he ended up falling over. Gasping hard, he stretched out a paw towards the sink while clawing at his throat. His tongue tried to lick the substance off the roof of his mouth. All this did was cause his tongue to become coated with peanut butter. The peanut butter was still at the back of his throat, refusing to budge.

He needed water.

He needed help.

But what he needed most of all was Colin.

Colin started down the hall, heading towards the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a whimper. He started in the direction where the noise had come from. What he saw scared the snot out of him.

Erik was lying on the kitchen floor with his mouth open and an expression of utmost fear on his face. He looked like he was in pain. He desperately clawed at his throat while he violently kicked his legs.

Though he was too scared to move, Colin quickly overcame his fear and walked over to the overweight skunk. Stopping, he looked down at his friend. "Erik, are you okay?"

Erik shook his head, wheezing. His eyes were shining with frustrated tears as he tried to gesture what was wrong. He hadn't made it to the sink, unfortunately. He couldn't run, nor could he breathe. With his paws folded at his throat, he looked up at Colin, pleading with the raccoon to help with his eyes.

"Are you choking?" Colin asked. He gently grabbed Erik by the ribs and lifted the skunk up. "Okay, take it easy. I'll get it out."

Erik tried to protest, but Colin's paws slammed in between his stomach, right under his ribs. He squirmed, unable to scream. His tail slammed desperately against Colin's side. Colin was trying to help him, but he wasn't getting it!

"Erik, hold still," Colin ordered. "I can get it out!"

Erik kept whacking at Colin with his tail, trying his best to get out of Colin's grasp. This was not helping him breathe at all. His heart felt constricted and there was a blackness starting to creep in on the edge of his vision. It terrified him. He was squeaking faintly. He pushed his feet against the floor, pushing his paws against Colin's chest and trying to shove his paws away. "Erik," he heard Colin groan. "Erik, you're not helping!" Colin sounded angry.

At the pinnacle of terror, the skunk did the only thing he could think of to do, though he'd feel horrible about it later. He bit Colin's paw.

Colin yelled and let go, sending Erik rolling tail over heels to lie panting less than a foot away. Colin glanced angrily at his paw to see if it was bleeding. It wasn't, but there was something gooey on it that had come from Erik's mouth. Something that smelled familiar. He sniffed it.

"Oh, no . . . Erik!" Colin went over to the skunk and lifted him tenderly. Erik didn't have the strength to push him away in protest, but he had started to cry and claw at his throat once again. "Oh, Erik, how much did you eat?" Colin pried his mouth open gently and looked inside. There was enough peanut butter at the back of Erik's mouth to block his air passageway. He tried to reach a finger in and scoop some of it away. He managed to clear a bit. This sent Erik into a gagging fit. Nothing came out, although it was loosened.

Erik coughed and clutched his throat.

"Easy, now," Colin said. "Relax." He rubbed his back. He tried to think. His finger couldn't do it. He needed something with a rough texture that would clear it out. Something flexible and wide . . . He wiped his paw off while he thought. The peanut butter stuck to his fur. He grimaced and licked it off, spitting it back onto the floor. He stared back at Erik for a moment before realizing what he'd done, and what he had to do.

"Oh, no." He sighed and his face grew determined. This was for Erik, and it was his fault he hadn't explained why even humans sometimes had problems with this particular food item. He licked his lips and gently brought Erik's face close to his. "Okay," he said, trying to get the dazed skunk to focus on him. Erik's eyes locked onto his, still holding a measure of hope. "Erik, listen. I'm going to . . ."

Hearing the concerned cries of Colin led Marshmallow to wonder what was going on outside her bedroom. Besides, she wanted to grab a little something to munch on before wandering off back to her bedroom. She paused as she heard a voice up ahead. She stopped to try to identify it.

Colin was saying something rather conspiratorially and sounded panicked. He'd mentioned Erik's name.

Marshmallow blinked, wondering what in heaven's name was going on. Usually, Erik talked a mile a minute, but he was apparently letting Colin talk without interruption.

This was weird.

Marshmallow squinted and tried to listen.

" . . . Going to put this in your mouth," Colin was saying. "It'll feel a little weird, but trust me, it's the only way we're going to be able to do this. You with me, kid?"

There was a pause.

"Okay," Colin continued. "Whatever I push down there, you need to swallow. And for the love of all things holy, please don't bite."

Marshmallow blinked. "What?" She listened for more, but only heard a very soft squeak of discomfort. Then, nothing. Cautiously and slowly, she peeked around the corner, and what she saw made her eyes widen.

Marshmallow watched breathlessly and in mute outrage as Colin's paw went to the back of Erik's neck, holding him in place as the raccoon's muzzle pressed against Erik's. She saw a pink slip of tongue dart into Erik's mouth. Her brother arched his back. His eyes brought forth tears. He looked utterly terrified. His paws clenched the fur on Colin's chest. He shook pitifully, yet Colin didn't let go.

Marshmallow felt herself boiling in rage. How dare he! How dare Colin take advantage of poor sweet Erik, who she knew for a fact didn't want to be kissed like that! She had seen what other people went through, but she had _never_ thought Colin would be the type to use someone else, much less Erik.

Marshmallow stood up and marched over to Colin and Erik. "Colin! I cannot believe you!"

Colin whimpered in alarm against Erik's mouth and his eyes darted to Marshmallow.

"Yes, I was watching," Marshmallow went on. "I heard everything! How dare you take advantage of Erik? How could you? Don't you know how easily he gets attached? And you're just going to use him?"

Colin rolled his eyes. He had yet to pull away from Erik. His tongue worked frantically to dislodge the last bit of the peanut butter. Marshmallow was still ranting away, and it was beginning to get on his last nerve.

"I trusted you," Marshmallow continued. "We all trusted you, and you're . . . Look at you! You haven't even stopped! Have you no shame?!"

Colin shut his eyes, trying his best to pretend that Marshmallow wasn't there. His tongue . . . almost . . . had it . . . There! He pulled the last glob of peanut butter out of Erik's mouth.

The skunk gasped and fell back. He was caught by the arms by Colin, who spat the gob of peanut butter at Marshmallow's feet.

"I ought to break your tail off and stuff it down in your . . . your . . ." Marshmallow stopped, noticing a brown substance on the floor. "What's that?" She pointed to the brown substance that remained by her feet.

"Peanut butter," Colin said, wiping his mouth with a free paw. With the other, he pulled Erik close. The skunk buried his face in Colin's chest, taking deep, ragged breaths. "He had a little too much," he explained as he patted Erik's back.

Marshmallow blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"I thought . . ." Marshmallow began sheepishly.

Colin waved a paw. He didn't much care to talk about it. "No need. It's all good. The important thing is that Erik is all right."

A whimper interrupted them.

Colin blinked and looked down.

So did Marshmallow.

Erik was still clutching at the fur on Colin's chest with his face buried in it.

"I don't like peanut butter," he finally said in a small voice.

Marshmallow looked at him and then at Colin who was already beginning to rub Erik's back in an effort to get the skunk to calm down.

"I got him," Colin said.

After a moment, Marshmallow nodded and walked off.

Colin watched her leave and looked down at Erik. "I know. I'm sorry I had to do that."

"It's okay." Erik's tail twitched and curled around his feet, draping over Colin's lap.

Colin rested his back against one of the legs of the kitchen table and began stroking the white fur behind Erik's ears.

"That thing you did earlier . . ." Erik said. ". . . that rib-pokey thing? Th-That was bad. The kissing thing was okay, though."

"Uh, it wasn't exactly kissing," Colin corrected.

"It felt nice, though. What was it?"

"Uh . . I don't really know what it could be called. It was certainly not CPR."

"What's see-pee-arr?" Erik had never taken health class since it was not a requirement for graduation.

"Uh . . . hmm. Maybe it was French CPR. It stands for cardiovascular . . . something."

"I like kissing better."

"For the last time, it wasn't kissing . . ." Colin trailed off with a startled blink as Erik gave him a little kiss-a real one-on the raccoon's nose.

Erik snuggled back under his chin. "Like that," he murmured, starting to get comfortable.

Colin looked down and kissed him very softly on the head. "Yeah. Like that." Hearing snoring, he looked down to see that Erik had fallen asleep. He smiled and watched Erik sleep for the longest time, all the while thinking _: He's so . . . calm. How does he do it?_

Colin was still awake long after everyone else had gone to sleep. He couldn't sleep. He wasn't tired, not much anyways. He couldn't think of anything that would help him fall asleep. "Okay, let me think. Hmm . . ., something boring. Uh . . . sleeping. Sleeping is boring."

All of the members of his family were peacefully and soundly sleeping. Well, everyone except Erik. The fat skunk was twitching and talking in his sleep yet again. Colin focused his attention on his friend. "What is with him anyways? He's so . . . different compared to the others."

As he pondered at the thought, Erik began to talk out loud in his sleep, Colin hopped to the floor, wanting to see what Erik was dreaming about, but the toys that were scattered across the floor underneath his feet proved it would be difficult to sneak up on him quietly. Still, Colin knew that Erik was definitely dreaming about something. The proof of this was due to Erik's excessive twitching and kicking. "What are you up to?" Colin whispered in Erik's ear faintly.

Colin sat down on the side of the bed, next to his dreaming friend "What are you dreaming of? Soda, nacho flavored chips, cookies, or . . .?" He paused as he heard his name being uttered: "Colin . . ." This sole word that slipped from Erik's mouth left the raccoon stunned.

"Uh, Erik? What about me?" Colin was really curious now. Dreaming was one thing but when it was about him . . . Well, he couldn't help but want to know what Erik was dreaming of.

Erik turned over and mumbled something. What Colin didn't realize was that Erik was fully awake and was still trying to pretend he was asleep. The skunk thought of what he would say in his sleep, and immediately mumbled the word "Cookies."

Colin sighed "Well, whatever. I guess it's nothing, I better be getting to sleep myself." He patted Erik's head, smiling down at the plump skunk. "Goodnight, Erik." He stood back up and walked to his bed and climbed back in it, gently resting his head in the center of his pillow. He didn't think much more of Erik's dream. It wasn't like he was screaming in his sleep or anything. Besides, Erik was so random, especially in his emotions, while awake that Colin wouldn't have been surprised if he was the same way while asleep as well.

Erik, on the other hand, was still awake and wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn't. He turned on his side and looked over at the bed that Colin slept in "Goodnight, Colin. I hope it really will be a good night. Colin, I did dream about you. I had a very nice dream, but . . ." He stopped talking and felt his heart sink at the thought. He remembered what had been happening almost every night, and to be perfectly honest, he was tired of it. He wanted it to end. It had to eventually. No more pain, no more disturbing images, no more anything. He only wished he had his nice dream about Colin as many times as he had the nightmares. He curled up comfortably and closed his eyes, hoping he would instantly fall asleep. It seemed impossible for him to sleep well at all anymore.

" _No, this can't be happening!" Erik yelled as he watched something dark surround Colin like a whirlwind. It was his nightmare. Everything the darkness touched had turned into a twilight reality of what was once their home. The trees were becoming dead and hard as stone as the grass was replaced with a cold rough terrain. The sun was gone and replaced with a gray and stormy sky so that not even the stars and moon were visible. Their home had become a wasteland, even worse; there was no sign of everyone else anywhere. It was just Colin, Erik, and the dark. Colin suddenly collapsed to the ground in front of him._

" _Colin! Colin, hang on, I'm here. Just hang on . . ." Erik felt as if he could stand up and resist the gusts of wind coming out of nowhere but only ended up falling on Colin in attempting to do so. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Erik asked as he slowly got back to his feet._

 _Colin twitched slightly and began to get up slowly as well. "Erik . . ., I . . . I'm sorry, but . . . you did this . . ." the raccoon mumbled under his breath as he stared at the ground._

 _Erik felt something sharp hit him in the chest but couldn't see what it was; it was an invisible pain coming from within him. He began to breathe heavily, trying to gasp for air as Colin began to hold his paw tight._

" _Erik, what's wrong? Is your chest hurting? Please, tell me. Why? Why is your chest hurting?" To Erik, Colin looked bizarre. His face kept distorting in weird ways as he talked to Erik._

" _I can't tell you, Colin," Erik whispered_

" _Why?" Colin replied in a soft tone "Are you afraid? Are you afraid of me?"_

" _No, I'm not afraid of you, but I . . . I . . ." Erik was stopped by Colin, who held Erik's paw tight, rather painfully._

 _Colin looked deeply at him and whispered, "Erik, do . . . do you love me?" in his ear, which caused Erik to shiver. He smiled. "I think I know what's wrong now." He pointed at Erik's chest. "Your chest is hurting, Erik. Do you know why?"_

 _Erik looked down at his chest and was terrified at what he saw happening. His chest was bleeding slowly and his black fur was becoming stained. What happened next freaked him out even more; Colin lunged at Erik and sunk his canine teeth deep into his shoulder. After a few seconds, he pulled away and began licking the wounds_

" _Do you still love me?" Colin said as a lightning bolt scorched the sky. When the lightning stopped, Erik noticed Colin was gone and the trees and sky were normal. He also took note of the fact that he was awake._

Erik began to cry almost immediately as he awoke, but he couldn't help it. After all, this nightmare was worse than some of the last ones that he'd had.

He wanted it to end, but it wouldn't. Any attempt he made to wish away his own fears brought them back twice as worse. He looked over at the bed Colin was still sleeping in and decided he wanted to at least be nearer to the raccoon. He got out of bed and got as comfortable as he could right next to the raccoon, lightly wrapping his arm around the raccoon's slim waist and did what he could to fall asleep. There was only one thought in Erik's head, which he spoke out loud as he lightly stroked Colin's face. "I don't know if I'll stop feeling this way about you, but one thing that I do know is that I don't want to. I don't know if these nightmares will keep getting worse, but they have to stop. Whether it's a good or bad night, Colin, I always think of you. Good night." He yawned as he fell back into a sleepy slumber. Little did he know, he wasn't the only one having nightmares.

A shifting body and a trace of light were enough to bring Colin to some resemblance of being awake; he muttered something quietly and moved under the sheets, moaning as he cuddled into the warm fur of the other body pressed against his back. An answering rumble came from the other side of the bed and a warm arm rested against his shoulders; the incongruity of the deep growl rather than his friend's usual lighter sounds reminded Colin of where he was, and he opened his eyes to look around in the soft morning light coming through the cracks of the window blinds.

Carefully sliding out of the bed, Colin stretched and made his way into the bathroom, then returned and curled back up under the sheets. The chipmunk on the other side smiled sleepily at him and made the same trip. He watched Alvin move across the hall, surveying the somewhat muscular build; he didn't often find boys with big muscles worth looking at, but Alvin wasn't a hardcore bodybuilder, and his trim form was just fine, the raccoon reflected as the chipmunk returned to the bed. Colin rolled partway onto his back and smiled. "Morning."

"Morning, bandit," Alvin replied as he slid again under the covers and settled in on his side, a comfortable weight. A paw scratched lightly behind Colin's ear and he purred. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good, actually." Shifting, Colin shuffled back against Alvin's hand, and Alvin's arm slipped around his chest, his warm, firm body settling against the raccoon's back. "Mm. comfy."

"Glad to hear that. Nice to have this extra body heat in the mornings, isn't it?"

Colin yawned a little and snuggled against the chipmunk a little more. "Mmm. If you're used to it. Erik's cat doesn't really replace it."

"Mm." Alvin's fingers lightly scratched at the center of Colin's chest; the raccoon moaned softly and relaxed against the smaller child, eyes drifting closed, then opening again as he felt something pressing against the back of his leg. He shifted a little, and Alvin did the same, moving away a little. "Sorry," he murmured, sounding slightly embarrassed.

Colin reached down and scratched the chipmunk's leg softly. "Don't be sorry, Alvin." He edged back into contact, relaxing into the chipmunk's touch, feeling that warm and slightly hardening pressure against his leg. "You feel nice."

Chuckling, Alvin rubbed the raccoon's chest, snuggling. "Guess sharing a bed with such a cute little raccoon as you does something for me. Glad it doesn't bother you."

"Nah, it's kinda flattering." Colin moved his leg and felt the chipmunk flinch slightly and the pressure grow more, then he rolled onto his back and looked up at Alvin, lying on his side. "Really flattering, actually." He smiled and reached up to scratch the fur that covered Alvin's chin.

Regarding the raccoon, Alvin lifted an eyebrow, still stroking the milky white colored fur on Colin's chest and pressing his muzzle against Colin's paw. "Is that so?"

Colin leaned over and softly licked the chipmunk's nose, his paw drifting down to rub down Alvin's side. "Yeah."

"What are you guys doing?"

Both looked up to see Erik sitting up in his bed.

"Nothing, nothing," Colin said quickly. "We were just waking up. Come on, Alvin, let's go see what's for breakfast."

While Alvin and Marshmallow went to play in the snow, Erik and Colin decided to have a nice breakfast together.

"How'd you sleep?" Colin asked.

"Pretty good," Erik replied. "How 'bout you?"

"Great." He cleared his throat. "I made you breakfast." He walked over to the table with the plate of pancakes and set them on the table.

"Thanks."

Colin pulled out the chair and smiled at the skunk. "Well, sit down."

Erik sighed. He couldn't fight his appetite. He sat down in the chair.

Colin sat down in the seat to Erik's left. He scooted the plate over to himself and picked up the top pancake and dangled it in Erik's face. Syrup dripped from its edges and splattered onto the table. "Open wide."

Erik opened his mouth as wide as he could. Colin shoved the pancake into his mouth, swelling his cheeks to immense size.

"Eat up, Erik," Colin said as he patted the skunk's head. He turned to leave the room, but before he could go anywhere Erik grabbed his paw, quickly pulling him back

"You will come back, won't you?" Erik asked Colin in a soft voice.

With a nod, Colin replied, "Yeah, I'll be back later to check on your progress."

"Yeah, all right, but, Colin, I'd like to talk to you later on about something kind of weird," Erik said, standing up and placing a shaking paw on top of Colin's.

Noticing the gesture, the raccoon looked down at his paw for a moment or two before glancing back up at the fat skunk in front of him. "Really? Er, what kind of weird stuff?" Colin was curious. Erik wasn't likely the one to talk about anything on his own, only with Colin.

Erik shrugged. "You know, stuff like, uh, stars and dreams." Erik tried not to make it sound like it was his erotic dreams that were bugging him, but he suspected that Colin knew something was amiss.

Colin had to pause for a moment before responding to the skunk's question. _Dreams,_ he thought. _Dreams of what?_ He was no stranger to nightmares and had them quite often, but most of them were unrelated to any actual events in his life, except for the last few which revolved around Erik or someone else who haunted him. It was someone who had stayed in his memory for the longest time, someone who would rarely be forgotten. "Okay," Colin agreed. He kissed Erik on the cheek, then left the room.

Erik devoured his pancakes and washed them down with a gallon of milk. He was still hungry, so he ate several bowls of cereal before Colin arrived back in the kitchen, for which he was grateful for. Erik saw this as his perfect chance to actually get to know Colin a little better away from the company of the others. Besides, he wanted to tell Colin more about himself as well. Sure, they recognized each other as friends, something which Erik wanted to change.

"Hey, Colin, I thought maybe we could, uh, talk now," Erik asked, hoping that the raccoon hadn't forgotten.

Colin quickly remembered his promise to the skunk. "Oh, yeah, sorry, Erik, I almost forgot." He pulled out a chair from its original position and sat down. He smiled when he noticed that Erik had completely consumed all of the pancakes that had been on his plate. "So, Erik how's it been going for you? You know, living here without me?" he asked. He wondered if they should attempt to find a more private place so they could talk.

"It was fun," Erik replied. "I mean, we did nothing really but mourn you being away, but it was still fun." He was trying to be himself, but was quickly becoming monotonous. "But we didn't have you here . . . so it was boring. Hey, how about we go to the park?" Before Colin could respond, he zipped through the doorway and past the driveway, stopping in the middle of the front lawn. Since Colin was not able to dash around at incredible speeds, he had to catch up the hard way.

"Don't just leave me back there, Erik, dang," Colin said, breathing heavily, thus causing the skunk to laugh at him. "Give me a chance to catch my breath a little."

Once they were settled underneath a tree at Pacific Spirit Regional Park, Colin started the conversation: "So, what exactly are we talking about here, Erik? Stuff like cookies, candy, or . . . stuff like-"

"You," Erik said softly, interrupting the raccoon in the process. He leaned to the right until his head was resting on Colin's shoulder. He began fondling the fur on Colin's chest with his finger. Lifting his gaze, he looked up at the raccoon. "Something about you."

Colin wondered why Erik wanted to talk about him, but could see in Erik's eyes that it must have been important. "Okay, like what?" he asked, getting himself comfortable next to the skunk.

Erik sighed. "Nightmares. I had some nightmares about you, weird ones."

Colin felt himself gulp. _Nightmares about me?_ "Uh, how weird are we talking here?" he asked, slowly hoping that the reply he got wouldn't be similar to the dreams he himself had been having.

Erik looked up at the blue sky. "It was dark, very dark. Nothing was bright and happy, not even the sun. You were there; a shadow monster thing attacked you." He held his breath as Colin held his paw in an attempt to comfort him.

"What else happened?" Colin was already freaked out by what he was hearing so far. For one, the background of their nightmares were very similar, almost the same.

"You hurt me. You bit me and when I looked down your paw was stabbing me." Erik felt torn inside. Just imagining it brought back his fear and pain.

Colin was stunned. _I hurt him? Why would he dream of me hurting him?_ "Erik, it's okay. Look, I don't know if this can help but . . ." He pulled him back into a warm hug and gently rubbed his back.

Erik lessened his grip on Colin, but still remained close to him. He saw that Colin was in a daze, looking into space. "Colin, what's bothering you?" His outburst nearly caused Colin to jump.

Colin shook his head from side to side and mumbled, "It's nothing. Really, nothing." He didn't really know why it still bothered him. After all, it was only a nightmare, but it was so real that that the feeling stayed with him.

"Colin, I know when someone's scared about stuff, 'cause I'm scared a lot, too," Erik said, trying not to make it sound like Colin wasn't afraid the best he possibly could.

Colin ignored what Erik said and continued to think about his nightmare _. It was only a nightmare . . . he wouldn't ever come back, I know he can't._ He was suddenly snapped out of his deep thought and turned his attention back to Erik. "I guess I could tell you. Okay, remember the Founders I told you all about? Well, Mark caused them a lot of problems. For some reason, they hated him. It wasn't that bad, though. Eventually, Grafton left him alone and we were able to hang out and be friends again. Well, at least for a while." He paused just long enough for Erik to throw in a question.

"Hmm . . . oh, yeah, about that. Er, right, whatever happened with your friend?" He wanted to know the full story for himself now that they were talking about it.

"Oh, him? Our friendship ended pretty roughly with him killing himself." He was surprised how easy it was for him to tell Erik something like that. It wasn't like when he was talking to everybody else, probably because he didn't feel like he had to worry about the outcome of what he said.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Erik was curious to know every detail and reclined against the trunk of the tree, preparing to take mental notes.

"Erik, I really don't feel like talking about it anymore. Well, at least not like this. You see, I had this nightmare. It was about him." Colin had been keeping it to himself for quite some time. His nightmare, it haunted him nearly every night. He wanted it to end but felt it wouldn't unless he told someone. He hated the fact that he had to go to others for help every now and then for his problems because he usually fixed things on his own. "Well, you see, I was in the house and it started shaking. Everything was pretty much like it was in your dream, dead looking. Then I remember being attacked by Grafton in the first nightmare. But then the second . . . I don't know. It kind of looked like him but I couldn't tell. I know it was only a dream, it felt so real, though. When he attacked me, he was laughing. He wanted to kill me." He expected this to make Erik shiver some, to say the least. Instead, the skunk just listened quietly, still relaxed and calm.

"It's only a nightmare, Colin, not real. You shouldn't let it get to you. It's not real, just like dreams," Erik said, beginning to lightly rub Colin's side.

Colin didn't know what Erik was up to, but he assumed Erik was just comforting him. In reality, Erik was doing something he couldn't openly do around everybody else. It was part of the dream he had, the dream about Colin. "Erik, what are you doing?" he asked, gently putting his own paw on Erik's.

Erik continued stroking Colin's side almost in a trancelike state. "I'm just making you feel better, like what you did for me." He ceased what he was doing, leaned against the trunk, and began to watch the sky.

What Erik did wasn't bothering Colin. He even enjoyed it, but he didn't understand why Erik suddenly felt the need to help him. "I enjoy the help, but what gave you the idea I needed it?" he asked Erik.

Erik got up and pointed at Colin's face. "Your eyes gave you away, like they always do." He enjoyed seeing a look of denial in Colin's face now.

Colin didn't want to deny it. How could he? He couldn't hide it from Erik and figured it wouldn't be any easier if it were somebody else. He knew he'd have to give up on trying to deny it and just tell Erik everything. "So, we came over here so I could maybe help you but now you're helping me?" he said, hoping Erik would understand.

"Yeah that sounds about right," Erik replied, smiling. "It's only fair, Colin. I mean, you helped me a lot, like a lot, just like in my dream." He had been wanting to share his dream with Colin ever since they began talking, but he didn't have a good enough opportunity to do so. Colin, in the meantime, was still unsure of what was really going on at this point.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" Colin said with a slight sense of humor as he rubbed his eyes vigorously.

"Nope, but I guess I shouldn't be hiding anything either," Erik said

"Well, I don't think you should be, but . . ." Colin said two seconds before Erik was about to say, "But I am . . ." Erik knew continuing to hide it would only delay what would eventually happen.

"Colin, I'm having dreams about you, weird but nice dreams." Erik looked at Colin intensely and felt a tingling sensation flow through his chest.

Colin was the exact opposite. He was still confused about most of everything else but he knew this was something he needed to hear. "So you had a good dream about me, too? Well, what was it like?" he asked, relieved the topic of nightmares was changing to something more positive.

Erik had a glimpse of his dream flash through his head. He enjoyed the momentary memory, but now he was unsure of how to describe it. "I don't know. We were, you know, just close to each other. We were having fun. It was nice because, well, it just made me think of how you're always there for me." He was starting to surprise Colin, which wasn't anything different from Colin's point of view. He was Erik. He was full of surprises and right now Colin was amazed at how serious Erik was being at the moment. Erik wasn't being randomly spontaneous, which was rarely seen by whoever else was around him.

"Glad I could help. Is that all that's been bothering you?" Colin hoped it would be, but then again so did Erik, but there were still some things that Erik felt should be lifted off his shoulders.

"I wish it was, but there are a few things I want to ask you about." Erik was preparing himself for what he would say next. Colin was basically doing the same, but nothing could've prepared him for what was coming.

"Colin, have you ever really liked somebody a lot? Like a lot like crazy?" Erik said.

Colin should've seen something unexpected coming from this but was once again confused by the random things Erik talked about.

"Well, what do you mean by a lot? Like being sexually attracted to someone? Or just liking someone for who they are?" Colin didn't think much of what Erik was possibly trying to get at. All he could do was focus on the question. Erik, however, was trying to be serious, and knew how difficult it would be to get his point across.

"A lot. You know, like the kind that people get married for and have babies?" Erik wasn't trying to freak Colin out, but it sure came off that way.

"Oh, you mean a lot as in love then, right?" Colin said, keeping calm about the strange situation.

"Yeah. So, have you?" Erik said curiously and innocently.

Colin felt compelled to say something. He didn't want to lie about something that wasn't much of a big deal and didn't want to start. "To be honest, Erik, I'm not sure. I mean, I've seen a lot of other raccoons and all and they liked me, but I wouldn't say I loved them. I liked some people, but I never really loved anyone except for Brenda and Melissa. Why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to know." Erik's intention was hard for Colin to see by this point but took his word for it anyways. He got up from his comfortable spot next to Colin, slowly taking a few steps back away from him. "I never really loved anyone either. I don't usually think about stuff like that, but it's not like I'm going to find someone who loves me like that, right?" He inhaled a big breath of air, realizing that he suddenly was unable to say anything at all.

Being that Erik suddenly turned away from him, Colin couldn't see the expression on Erik's face but didn't need to guess twice about which expression it was once he saw Erik trembling slowly in his lower body. "Erik . . ." He was out of ideas. By now he needed to say something else but couldn't find the right words he wanted.

Erik was still trembling slightly, but wasn't crying this time. "It's not like there's anything I can do, right? I mean, I'm not cool like you or smart like you and Melissa. I can't take care of everyone like Mom. I won't find someone as easily as you and I'm not as brave and strong as you are, Colin." He shook his head quickly, trying to rid possible tears from surfacing in his eyes.

This gave Colin an idea that would hopefully fix a potential problem before it got started. "Yeah, but nobody is like you. You're Erik. You know, you're different." He tried saying it in the most positive way as possible but Erik's view on it was totally opposite.

"I know," Erik said. "That's what's so bad."

"You know, I like you because you're different; it would be boring if you were like everyone else," Colin said.

"Hmmn," Erik pondered. "Okay. If you like me this way, then I do too!" Erik jumped up and wrapped his arms around Colin. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Colin replied. "Now, can we forget about all this?"

"Okay," Erik agreed. "But now we gotta fix your problem!" He pointed at Colin.

"I don't have a problem, Erik, let's just go." Colin started to leave.

Erik thought for a second and knew for sure what it was about. "Aha!" he exclaimed, thus causing Colin to stop walking in the process. "This is about your friend! I get it! He did something bad and you don't want him to do it again, right?"

Colin looked up and sighed. "Yeah, he did. He left my friends and me for dead. When I needed his help, he died."

Erik felt his heart sink and gradually fill with regret. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even brought you here. It's all my fault, like usual. I'll leave. I guess I really am stupid." Erik was full of anguish now.

"Wait, don't just go. It's not your fault, really. I shouldn't have mentioned him, don't blame yourself." Colin pulled Erik back to him.

"Okay, I won't," Erik said.

"Good, let's just forget about all the bad stuff right now. What do you say we go back home and take a nap?"

"Actually, I'm really tired, can't we just sleep here?" Erik yawned and started to stretch.

"All right, that's fine by me. But where?" Colin began looking around for the best place.

Erik, however, already had the best place in mind "How about right here? Close to each other? I mean, we'd be warm and the grass is real soft." He patted the grass.

"Anything is fine as long as it's comfortable, I guess. Just let me get settled." Colin curled himself into a suitable position as Erik did the same.

Both of them were snuggled closely to one another and ready to crash for the afternoon.

"Guess this is goodnight, huh, buddy?" Colin said, flicking one of Erik's ears.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Erik said, closing his eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that he would sleep well. After all, he knew that soon he'd be asleep. With Colin there, his fears were gone and now he could feel himself slipping into his blissful dream again.

The following night Erik and Colin decided to sleep in the same bed, Colin offering up his own bed to Alvin. The red-clad chipmunk accepted the bed gratefully and didn't argue as to whether or not it was right of him to do so. He was so tired that he didn't feel like it. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep, and Erik and Colin followed suit soon thereafter.

 _Leaves swept underneath Erik's feet as he ran on all fours through the woods. The wind stung his eyes, making it hard to see, but the wind felt refreshing as it blew against his face, cooling him off from the heat that surrounded him._

 _Upon reaching a clearing, he skidded to a halt and looked around. He couldn't see much of anything except a white fog that made him feel woozy. "Hmmn . . . clouds . . ."_

 _Suddenly, Erik felt his fur being tossed gently by a breeze of air. It was smooth and light rather that rough and violent like the wind of a tornado. The air seemed to be stirring the fog away from him. Little by little, the fog dissipated into nothingness until Erik could see where he was._

 _He was in Wally Chestnutt Park in the same clearing where he and Colin had had their picnic six years ago. "Why am I here?" Erik wondered aloud. "Uh, is anybody here? Someone? Anyone? Hello? Yoo-hoo! Is somebody there? It's me, Erik!" His voice seemed to echo into the distance but nobody answered in return. Nobody was there. He was about to ask again until the wind picked up once more. It was stronger this time, but it still lightly ran through his fur with a smooth touch. The feel of it reminded him of someone, someone he longed for at that moment._

" _Mmmnhh . . . Colin." Erik moaned "So soft and warm." He was overcome by this feeling of desire inside of him. It was like his whole body became comforted from it. Anytime he thought of Colin, he felt better._

" _I'm right here, Erik," came a voice from behind him. Before he could turn around, he felt two arms being wrapped around his waist and felt the soft white fur on Colin's chest touch his back. "Colin . . ." was all he could say._

 _Colin rested his head on Erik's shoulder and began to hug him. It seemed to make the calm and blissful atmosphere around them even more tranquil. Softly, he began to sing in Erik's ear._

"I'll hold you tight until your pain is gone

Here with me is where you belong"

 _Colin then stopped abruptly and started lightly flicking Erik's tail._

" _Hey, why did you stop the song?" Erik asked, gently pulling his tail back from Colin's grip._

 _Colin eyed him playfully "I told you that's the only part I remember." He tried to grab Erik's tail again._

 _Erik began to pull it away in different directions to see how long Colin would keep up the game. "Too slow," Erik said, teasing him "Now I'm too fast! Come on, almost got it!" Colin jumped at him only to miss. "I thought you'd do better! Here, try one last time." Erik offered his tail empty-handed._

 _Colin, however, didn't plan on missing this time "And got ya!" He tackled Erik to the ground. The skunk squirmed some, but Colin held him tight._

" _Hey, go easy," Erik said in fatigue. "It's just my tail!"_

 _Colin looked at him eye to eye "I didn't aim for your tail that time." He put a paw on the side of Erik's face and patted it "I was going for your mouth." And with that, he began to kiss Erik passionately._

 _Erik could feel himself well up inside from the strange feeling in his chest. He didn't understand it completely, but didn't care. All he wanted right now was love, nothing else. "Oh. Why didn't you say so?" He lightly pressed his mouth to Colin's and then pulled away a few seconds later._

 _Colin stayed still. "Here, Erik." He pulled Erik closer "Like this." He had his mouth locked to Erik's again, except this time he was going to make it last._

 _Erik could feel a warmth fill his entire mouth and then vent down his entire body. He pulled Colin closer until they were both on the ground. Erik needed to breathe, but didn't care. Both of them were consumed by each other and neither seemed to show the slightest sign of stopping. This was Erik's dream, his paradise. What he wanted more than anything in the world was happening to him. "Colin, more!" he begged Colin by grabbing the raccoon from behind one of his ears and pulling him onto his chest. Colin did so gratefully and began to gently lick Erik's chest before kissing him again._

 _Colin went downward, kissing the fat skunk's chest and then his belly. He suddenly stopped when he reached a white material below Erik's waist. He raised his head to realize that Erik was still wearing the diapers that he'd put on the fat skunk earlier. He lifted his head to meet Erik's gaze and grinned at him. He gently lifted one of the tapes of the first diaper that Erik wore. "What say we get rid of these, huh?" After a nod from Erik, Colin proceeded to take off the skunk's diapers, one by one, until finally Erik was completely naked. Pleased with this, Colin climbed on top of him and continued to kiss his love._

 _The mist seemed to slowly fade in and out now. It would surround them and then dissipate again. This seemed to go on forever but eventually it stopped and the grass and trees remained visible. When it did, Erik simply fell over Colin and took a second to breathe. "Colin . . ." he said softly, stroking the raccoon's face. Erik looked at Colin eye to eye and kissed him. He was suddenly on his back as Colin tackled him, hovering over him, smiling. Once again, he squirmed, but Colin pinned him down, all the while grinning from ear to ear, the raccoon's baby blue eyes seeming to cast a spell on him that allowed him to calm down._

 _Colin chuckled and kissed Erik roughly, loving that he was in control. As Erik gasped and moaned, he pulled up from the kiss. "Something you want?" he asked slyly._

 _Erik slowly nodded his head, reaching up to caress the raccoon's face as he said, "Yes. I want to feel you inside me . . . right now!" With that, he pulled the raccoon down for yet another firm but passionate kiss._

" _You have to tell me how you want it . . ." Colin whispered softly, getting into position to enter Erik, but not doing so just yet. "Do you want it hard? Or soft? Quick? Or slow?" The skunk underneath him only whimpered in response. "Well . . . I guess I'll have to improvise, won't I?" He smirked and entered Erik, going at a slow and hard pace. He moaned and clung to Erik's neck. He went in and out of Erik slowly, waiting for Erik to voice how he wanted Colin to give it to him._

 _No such words were escaping Erik's mouth. Only moans and whimpers. Any words were gibberish to him. Just letters of the alphabet put together in ways he never heard before._

 _Colin smirked at the affect he had on Erik. He slowed his pace down by a fraction, wanting to hear Erik whimper and complain in protest._

" _Uh! Oh!" Erik moaned._

 _Colin sped up a bit, not getting the reaction he had expected. But he was encouraged to get Erik to talk. "How do you want it?" he whispered in Erik's ear._

 _Erik bit his lower lip and blushed. "I want . . . I want it . . . h-hard . . ." he breathed out._

 _Smirking, Colin gave Erik a rough and passionate kiss as he did start thrusting at a harder pace. He knew he was bound to make Erik start bleeding with how rough he was going, but Erik's moans didn't seem brought on by pain._

 _Erik hissed in slight pain as he felt himself being bruised slightly. He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting Colin to stop._

 _Colin felt Erik tense under him and looked down at him. "Am I hurting you?"_

 _Erik shook his head once and let out a breathy whimper as Colin continued his rough thrusts._

" _I could slow down," Colin said softly, not liking that Erik was in pain._

" _N-no . . . I'm f-fine . . ." Erik breathed out, opening his eyes and looking up at him. There was doubt and a bit of reluctance in his eyes. "Don't worry . . . I'll be fine . . ." He reached up and pulled Colin into a rough kiss._

 _Still hesitant, but feeling slightly reassured, Colin continued giving it to Erik with a rough force._

 _Gasping, Erik let out a soft moan._

 _Colin resumed the cause for the reaction. Biting his lower lip, he resumed thrusting into Erik roughly. "Are you sure this isn't hurting you?" he asked. The skunk below him nodded as he slammed against his bruised entrance. There was a dull pain there, but Erik felt more pleasure from his actions than pain anyway, and he had no intention of stopping this pleasure because he couldn't handle it. He very much could._

" _Would . . . would you stop worrying? It's f-fine . . ." Erik managed to get out, pulling Colin into a kiss. He smirked into the kiss and forced his tongue into Colin's mouth. Despite having forced his way inside his mouth, Colin gave him access willingly. Battling a battle either one could win Colin managed to become rougher with his thrusts. Erik gasped and whimpered, clinging to Colin tightly in reflex. Feeling the reaction, Colin ended the battle inside his mouth and lifted his head. "I-I'm fine . . . quit w-worrying . . ." he reassured, knowing why Colin broke the kiss._

" _I could slow down, there's no problem with it . . ." Colin insisted, not easing up on his thrusts, afraid to throw off the mood of their activity. His breath caught and he closed his eyes. He shook his head slowly. "Are you sure?" he asked._

 _Sighing in annoyance, Erik silenced him with another rough kiss._

 _Going at a pace Colin knew he hated, Erik whimpered and gasped._

 _Colin kissed Erik roughly, then down his neck. "Complain all you want, I know you like it . . ." he whispered with a smirk._

" _Who's complaining?" Erik asked with a breath, holding onto anything he could reach as Colin humped against him._

 _Colin grabbed Erik's paws and laced them with his own. With each small or big thrust, he could feel Erik clutch his paws in reflex and moan softly. "You will be, soon enough . . ." he whispered and gave him a firm kiss, increasing his speed by a fraction. He moaned into the kiss and clutched his paws. He pulled up from the kiss and smirked at Erik._

" _Is that a promise?" Erik asked, slightly out of breath._

 _Colin pulled out most of the way and gave Erik a sly smile. He didn't react quickly enough to the look and he soon rammed into Erik with almost as much force as he had been with him._

 _Erik cried out softly._

 _Colin shivered himself at how good it had felt. He leaned down and kissed Erik softly. "It's a promise, and you know I always keep my promises . . ." he whispered in Erik's ear seductively. He bit his bottom lip to keep from whimpering as he found a good rhythm and stuck to it. "Mmm . . ." he moaned as he forced himself deeper inside Erik._

 _Erik moaned, greatly enjoying the thickness that was penetrating him; Colin slid his hips closer yet and propped himself up on an elbow to allow more leverage until his hips met the skunk's rear, his entire length buried in his lover. They lay there for a few moments, Colin moaning softly as his body gently squeezed Erik's shaft until the raccoon slowly drew back, then rocked his hips forward again, sliding through the tight ring of Erik's anus, his paw gripping the skunk's thick penis and caressing it in time with his motions._

 _Groaning softly, Colin shuffled his legs again, Erik's behind suddenly tightening around Colin's shaft as he thrust deep inside; the skunk groaned in pleasure and Colin picked up his pace, both with his own thrusts and on Erik's cock, slick with his own precum. The tip of Erik's tail flicked down under Colin's tail and brushed his own anus as the skunk's paw reached back and grabbed the fur on the raccoon's hip, urging him deeper still. Colin shuffled around slightly to raise himself over the skunk's body, giving him more leverage as he felt the pressure building. He drove himself deep, his hips slamming against his lover, his cock stroking hard into Erik's tightness, feeling his shaft being caressed by his lover's body as Erik moaned and cried out softly in pleasure, himself rolling to give Colin an even better angle, his cock twitching in Colin's paw._

 _Finally, with a long, drawn out growl, Colin lunged forward, his chest driving Erik's body down as he exploded, his hot cum spurting into the skunk's rear, filling him with the warm sticky fluid. The skunk yowled and jerked against the cock buried in him, and Erik felt his cock pulse in his paw, his own orgasm spurting out across the raccoon's paw and onto the grass. Holding one another tightly together, the two mammals rocked through their climaxes, slowly relaxing as the sensations dimmed, then trailed off entirely, leaving them panting for breath and hugging one another close._

 _Sprawled across his lover's front, Colin managed to get his breath back slowly, lifting his paw to his muzzle to lick the salty cum away, then letting it fall to scratch Erik's furry chest as he shifted back to his side, regretfully letting his shrinking erection slide out of the skunk's anus. He sighed softly and snuggled his shoulders back into Erik's chest, his paw stroking the skunk's forearm lightly as his tail curled around Erik's knees, purring wordlessly. Erik kissed his ear and giggled lightly._

" _What's so funny, skunk?" Colin asked softly, taking Erik's paw and kissing it._

 _Erik licked the back of his love's nose in response. "I just can't believe we did that in the middle of the park, in broad daylight. I never thought I'd ever do that . . . ."_

 _The raccoon giggled. "I guess I'm just a corrupting influence, huh?"_

 _Erik felt his fur tingle as the white shroud began to appear and disappear again. It swirled into a dense fog around him, leaving Colin out of his sight. The strange white mist was all Erik could see now. The second it was gone Erik looked around until he saw Colin lying next to him, perfectly still. He didn't want the fog to interrupt again, so he took his chance and kissed Colin once again._

 _Colin didn't seem to mind, but the reason wasn't clear until Erik looked down at him and Colin looked up._

 _The moment was more awkward than ever._

 _Colin was wide-eyed from the mouth service Erik was giving him._

 _It was now perfectly clear to Erik what was wrong. He wasn't dreaming anymore, he was awake._

Not only was he awake, but so was Colin, and they were mouth to mouth.

He immediately pulled away, giving Colin a second to breathe. He took two steps back and assumed a guilty expression.

Colin's expression, however, remained the same. Surprised was all he could be. He couldn't say anything at all, leaving his mouth open as wide as his eyes.

Erik felt even worse now, and could feel himself break inside.

"I . . . Colin . . . I . . . I'm sorry. I don't know . . . I was just . . . I didn't . . ." He began moving away towards the bedroom door, even more now trying his best not to look at Colin, who was still speechless. The diapers he still wore rustled as he went. "Colin, I'm sorry!" He took down the hall and ran outside. He wanted-no, _needed_ -to run away. It was the only thing he could do to escape the situation he found himself in.

He didn't want to run away, but knew it was all he could do. Facing Colin would be impossible now. There was nothing he could say or do to fix or even lighten the situation. The only thought that raced through Erik's mind was to run. He ran as fast as he could through the streets of Vancouver that seemed to be nothing but only a blur from his point of view. He came to a stop at one of the tallest trees in Pacific Spirit Regional Park and looked it over. The stems were rather sharp and the bark was thick like stone. "Perfect! I'll stay here. Here's some leaves and . . . There!" He piled a few leaves against the base of the tree and arranged the leaves so it would be comfortable, as well as warm enough for the rest of the night. Looking up at the night sky, he whispered, "Colin, I'm so sorry. Colin, what have I done?"

Yawning, Alvin sat up in bed and looked around. "What's going on, Colin?"

"N-Nothing," Colin stammered. "Just go back to sleep." _Now, back to sleep,_ he thought as he fluffed his pillow. _I don't even need to be worrying about this at the moment. A dream like that is best forgotten, I don't need that keeping me down when I have something more important to worry about. This will all be fixed soon enough and then I can live normally for a change. Still, I have a funny feeling about all of it. Ahh, what am I saying! I need to sleep, that's all. Just think of . . . sheep! Or something else that is just as boring. Okay, let's try grass; it's green and smooth and it tastes like wet plastic. It's soft just like him._

Resting his head on his pillow with his eyes cast upward towards the ceiling and his paws folded on his stomach, Colin recalled the memory of Erik kissing him. Unfortunately, this did nothing but send a tingle throughout his entire body. Not only that, but it also woke him up completely. _Great, as if I couldn't sleep already I definitely can't now. Why is this keeping me up? It was only a dream, and then it was only a kiss, a kiss with Erik, that is. A kiss with Erik. Oh, man, this is going to be a long night and an even longer morning._

Colin awoke the following morning to see that Erik had returned. The skunk was lying next to him, his back turned towards the raccoon, his tail curled around his waist to serve as a blanket as if the covers and comforter weren't keeping him warm enough. _Poor guy. I wish there was something I could do to make him feel better._ Colin continued to stare at Erik, who breathed quiet whispers of breath as he slept. An idea popped into his head. Just as he was about to ponder on it some more a yawn escaped his lips. Glancing at the clock, he realized why he was still tired. The raccoon took note of the fact that it was only six o' clock in the morning. Realizing this, he sighed and carefully, gently, lied back down so as not to disturb Erik.

Later on during the day the family got in the car and drove off to Burnaby to do their Christmas shopping while Marshmallow and Alvin stayed behind, the latter complaining and the others explaining that he and she were staying behind because they had a tendency to attempt to see what they were getting for Christmas when no one was looking, a fact they found out from not only Dave, but Simon as well, much to Alvin's dismay. So, while Erik, Colin, and Renee went off to shop for not only each other but also Alvin and Marshmallow, the albino skunk and the red-clad chipmunk were stuck in the house with nothing to do but watch television.

Turning to look at the white skunk, Alvin asked, "So, Marshmallow, what do you want to-"

"Change me," Marshmallow demanded, "then feed me."

He blinked. "Wouldn't it make more sense to feed you, then change you? You're just going to end up messing in your diaper anyway."

She poked the front of her diaper, smiling as the warmth of the liquid caressed her furry hindquarters. "That would, but this one's already full. I'm afraid if I attempt to fill it up even more it'll leak."

He sighed. "All right." He picked her up as she reached out to him and carried her down the hall towards the nursery.

"Erik," Colin said, "what do you want for Christmas?"

For a brief moment, Erik thought about saying to Colin, "I would like you . . . and I would like you to be the handsome raccoon of my dreams," but that would never come out of his mouth. Instead, he merely shrugged his shoulders while Colin handed him a slip of paper.

"We'll each take half the list so we'll save time," the raccoon stated. "You get Alvin and Marshmallow's things. Marshmallow's things can all be found in Babies 'R Us. I don't know what Alvin wants. Anyway, I'll shop for everyone else, 'kay?" He smiled a toothy grin, showing his sharp, dazzlingly white teeth.

The skunk nodded.

"Let's all meet in the food court for lunch around noon," Renee suggested. "Everybody off!"

Erik was left alone while Renee and Colin dashed off. He looked down at the list he held in his paw. Shopping for Alvin and Marshmallow wouldn't be difficult in the slightest. Basically, Alvin wanted some CDs and a couple of video games. Running low on diapers and other supplies, Marshmallow simply wanted a pack of diapers, a new pacifier since the cat had clawed hers up, and a couple of new baby bottles. He had no clue as to what to get Colin. The hot tub was the only thing that he had gotten the raccoon and surely that would be more than enough, and he'd spent a lot of his money in order to get it, with Alvin chipping in, claiming that Dave would take care of it, although the skunk did not want to see Dave's face when he saw how much the surrogate father had to pay him. He just hoped that the hot tub would arrive at the house any day now. Hiding it from Colin would be one hell of a workout, being that a hot tub wasn't hard to miss. He walked down the corridor that was lined with multiple shops and restaurants, all while trying his best to think of something to get for Colin, with a pack of Twinkies being one of the first things to come to mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marshmallow wasn't hard to please whatsoever, Alvin was quick to find out. As long as she had a clean diaper and nice warm bottle of milk, the skunk was perfectly content, not saying a word while she drank from her bottle, a huge grin spreading across her face at the rustling of her diaper as she moved about. Unfortunately, their bonding moment was interrupted, much to Marshmallow's dismay, when they both heard a knock at the door. Alvin gently set her down in the floor while he went to answer the door, only to be surprised when he spotted a familiar-looking otter on the doorstep, the same otter who had sold him and Erik the hot tub.

"Hi," the otter said in greeting. "You're the guy who I sold a hot tub the other day, right?"

"One of the guys," Alvin said.

The otter laughed. "Where's the other guy, the fat one?" He looked past Alvin to see if the skunk was in the house.

"The skunk? He's out of the house, out shopping. What can I do you for?"

"We're here to install your hot tub, sir."

"Really? Is that a fact? Could you excuse me for one moment?" He lifted a finger and swiftly turned, digging out his phone, hastily dialing a number and putting the phone to his ear.

Worry was the first feeling that struck Erik when he dug his phone out of his jacket pocket and saw that Alvin was calling him. He hoped to God that Marshmallow wasn't hurt or Alvin hadn't burned the house down while trying to cook, him recalling how Alvin had nearly done so while trying to cook his father breakfast as a special gift for Father's Day. Nervously, he answered the call and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Erik, we have a situation here," Alvin stated.

He swallowed. "What's wrong? Is Marshmallow all right? Is the house still intact?" He lowered his voice, panic making the volume rise and causing several people to stop and look at him.

"Relax. She's fine, the house is fine, but what's not fine is the fact that the hot tub is arriving."

"What? Now?"

"I'm looking at the salesman right now."

"Shit!"

"What should I do?"

"Go ahead and install the hot tub and I'll find some way to cover the back patio."

"Right. So, do you want us to take out part of the back patio and install the hot tub in the middle?"

He grinned. "That'd be perfect!"

"Great! Thanks for the help, Erik."

"I'm just grateful that you haven't heard Marshmallow in any way or burned the house down. If you had, I'd have to kick your ass. You know how protective Colin and I are of her."

"Erik, you know as well as I do that I would never do anything to hurt a hair on her cute little head."

He grinned. "I know. I'll talk to you later. Bye-"

"Wait. What are you getting me for Christmas? Hello? Erik? Erik, you there?"

Alvin looked down at the screen of his phone to see that Erik had hung up on him. He shook his head and stuffed his phone in the pocket of his sweater before gesturing the men inside, leading them out the kitchen door to the back patio.

A day of sweat, dirt, and arcane wiring magic by a gruff elderly human with a truly fascinating mustache (the cat had nearly tried to attack it at one point only to be plucked out of mid-pounce by Alvin), and it was done. The wood enclosure even matched the stained boards of the deck, Alvin reflected as he stood back and admired the new addition to the backyard.

"Looks good, doesn't it?" Alvin smiled as Marshmallow wormed in under the chipmunk's left arm, leaning in warmly.

"Yeah, it does. Good idea, Alvin. Shall we fill it up?"

"I'll get the hose."

"Alvin? Is hot tub water supposed to be purple?"

"I don't think so. Is it purple?"

"Yes. Maybe I put in too much of the chemicals?"

"Or not enough... how do you drain this thing?"

"Well, look at it this way, Alvin. At least the water's not purple anymore."

"Perfect!"

"Now it's green."

"More chlorine, then."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Erik and the others got home a lot earlier than Alvin and Marshmallow had previously anticipated and they sprinted towards the living room, covering the back door with the curtains on their way, and leaping up on the sofa and turning on the TV to look as casual as possible. They had perfect timing, as Erik and the others walked in through the front door just as they were starting to watch _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ ("starring Jim Carrey," the announcer proclaimed) o ABC Family.

"We're back," Colin chirped. He set the bags near the window of the living room along with the others and stood up, dusting off his paws. "So, what did you guys do while we were gone?"

"Mostly this," Alvin said dully as he gestured towards the television, on which Jim Carrey was scaring Lucy Luu, who was no more than two. He suddenly frowned. "We haven't put the tree up yet and it's almost Christmas."

"Oh, that reminds me," Renee said suddenly. "Erik, Marshmallow, have you guys written your letters to Santa yet?"

This inquiry caused Alvin to look at the two skunks in question with a quizzical look on his face.

"What?" Erik asked.

"Okay, Marshmallow, I understand," Alvin said, "but, dude, you're in your twenties. What are you doing still believing in Santa Clause?"

Erik's face fell and his ears flattened against his head, his thick striped tail curling around his feet, and he, without thinking about it, began to stroke the tip.

"Oh, come on, Alvin, leave him alone," Colin said, hugging the skunk, causing a smile to appear on Erik's face. "There's nothing wrong with believing in a little Christmas magic. Dave tells me that you still believe in the tooth fairy."

Alvin's cheeks burned red as Erik smiled at him. "Well, that-that's different," he stammered in an effort to show the difference between the two. "She gives you money! Santa Clause doesn't do that."

"No, he just gives you a shitload of presents," Colin mumbled, flinching as his mother smacked in the back of the head, clearly telling him to watch his mouth in front of the little ones. "Sorry, Mom."

"New rule," Alvin proclaimed. "No more talking to Dave or Simon."

"You're just embarrassed," Erik said, his happy mood suddenly returning.

"Oh, and, Marshallow, look what we got while we were out," Renee said, fishing out a jug of boiled custard, much to the white skunk's delight as she squealed in joy, kicked her legs, and clapped her paws together, her tail swatting Alvin in the head. "Who wants some?"

The family charged into the kitchen while Alvin remained on the sofa.

"Alvin, aren't you coming?" Colin asked.

Alvin folded his arms angrily. "Hmph!" He turned away from the raccoon.

"Ah, come on, Alvin," the raccoon said gently. He slid his arms around Alvin's waist and nuzzled his ose in the soft, warm fur on Alvin's neck. "Don't be sore at me. We were just having a little fun is all." He heard nothing in response. "Come on. Quit being a pussy and-"

"Colin Phillips," Renee shrieked, making the raccoon wince.

A mischievous smile crept across Colin's lips. "Quit being a baby and come join us." He heard nothing in response. "Or just sit there and pout, I don't care." He finally slid away from Alvin, releasing the chipmunk and walking away towards the kitchen with a swish of his ringed tail.

Alvin watched him go, struggling with indecision before crying out, "Wait for me," and running into the kitchen with the others.

"Why is are the curtains drawn over the back door?" Renee wondered out loud.

"Yeah, I was just noticing that myself," Colin stated.

Erik, Alvin, and Marshmallow each gave each other a knowing look, a look that Renee instantly recognized and called them out on it. "Boys, Marshmallow, do you know anything about this?" She pointed to the curtains and put her paws on her hips, a gesture that Alvin recognized from Dave as one being told that they meant business.

Erik gave a nervous smile and replied, "Let's just say it's a surprise, a surprise none of you can see until Christmas, okay?"

"Ooh, what is it?" Colin asked excitedly, hopping up and down.

"Especially you, Colin," Erik instructed in a mockingly stern voice.

"It's something for me, isnt' it?" Colin guessed, his tail wagging.

"Yes," Erik replied, "but you can't see it until Christmas."

The raccoon's face fell. "But that's ten whole days away," he whined. "I want it now!" He jumped up and down, making the others laugh with how childish he was being.

"Oh, quit being a baby and drink your boiled custard," Alvin replied, shoving a tall glass of the liquid into the raccoon's mouth and forcing it down his gullet. Once Colin took the glass and kept chugging, Alvin let go, watching in amazement as Colin guzzled down the rest of the boiled custard without stopping, taking a deep breath as he set the empty, stained glass on the counter, breathing heavily.

"That's a good way to choke yourself," Marshmallow noted towards her brother.

Erik gently kicked her shin. "You're one to talk. You can drink a whole bottle of milk without stopping to take a breath. What room do you have to criticize?"

She smiled. "Okay, okay, I admit it. I'm a milkoholic, so sue me."

"Mm-hmm," Erik mumbled as he took a drink of the vanilla-colored liquid in his glass.

Noticing that he had yet to drink his, Renee motioned for Alvin to try some. "Go on, Alvin, try it. It's really good. You'll like it."

The red-clad chipmunk shrugged. "Okay, here I go." He reared back his head and took a swig of the stuff, a grin spreading across his face as the liquid touched his tongue and traveled down his throat to his belly. He straightened his head, licking his lips in the process, and smiled at the glass. "Mm! That is good!"

"Told you," Renee said.

"Guess who I ran into while at the mall," Colin said.

"Who?" Marshmallow asked.

"Rita," the raccoon answered, smiling. "She was out back digging around in the dumpsters in search of something to eat."

"Well, at least the two of you have one thing in common," Erik said. "Dumpster divers."

Colin playfully glared at him. "I'm not some smelly little skunk who offends people with my odor."

"You are when you come home after you're through digging through the neighbors' trash," Renee stated, smiling as she took another drink of her boiled custard.

Colin smiled bashfully. "Okay, okay, you got me."

"Is she still in a bad mood?" Erik inquired.

Colin shook his head. "No, she's calmed down some. Of course, she won't be coming over here for Christmas. She's going over to her aunt and uncle's place."

"Will Gillian be going this year, her cousin?" Alvin asked. "I went with her one year. I was supposed go up to her room for some private time, but I, uh, accidentally fell asleep and she ended up sleeping with Mark, Gillian's boyfriend at the time." He chuckled. "Not surprisingly, they hooked up after that. I guess the relationship didn't last, because she was banging you there for quite a while, Colin." He smiled at the raccoon, who quickly looked away upon seeing his mother glaring at him.

"Her idea," Colin said quickly in his defense. "I didn't even want to do it, but she tied me down and forced me to. Protection wasn't exactly necessary since she really had a thing for anal pleasure. Didn't have to use my thing. A dildo sufficed."

"Colin," Renee yelled, gesturing towards Marshmallow.

"What's a-" Marshmallow began.

"Something you don't need to know about for another ten to fifteen years," Erik said quickly, cutting her off.

Marshmallow gave an understanding nod. "Okay." She went back to drinking her boiled custard.

"Sometime within the next ten days we need to go out and get a tree," Alvin stated.

"No need," Renee said. "We can use the tree we use every year. It's in the garage, along with all of our Christmas decorations."

"Oh," Alvin replied.

Renee chuckled. "Relax, Alvin. We have plenty of time to get the tree up. There's no rush."

The red-clad chipmunk gave an understanding nod before finishing off his boiled custard.

"I think I'll go write my letter to Santa," Erik said, wandering off towards the hall.

"I wanna come too," Marshmallow chimed in. Her brother smiled at her and took her by the paw and led her down the hall towards the bedroom that he shared with Colin and, on occasion, Alvin.

The brown raccoon let out a yawn, stretching and scratching at his backside while he smacked his lips, barely able to keep his eyes open. "I think I'll turn in for the night. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning."

"All right," Renee agreed. She pecked him on the cheek. "Good night." She ruffled the brown fur on his head.

He smiled and lightly swatted her paw away. "Night." He turned to Alvin, smiling at the red-clad chipmunk. "Alvin, care to join me?" To his surprise, Alvin shook his head, stating that he would watch some TV before going to bed. Colin merely nodded his head and tarried off towards the bedroom that he shared with Erik while Renee and Alvin went their separate ways, Renee to her bedroom and Alvin to the living room.

The TV was on, the volume turned up just enough to where Alvin could hear it properly, but the chipmunk wasn't paying that much attention to what was happening on the screen at the moment, his mind wandering. He had lots of things buzzing around in his head. His mind was wandering to that of his brothers. He couldn't help but wonder what they were doing at the moment. His family was most likely busy viewing some kind of Christmas special. From what his subconscious could detect, there was a Christmas special on right now: _A Christmas Story_ , a film that he had come to hate due to how many times he had seen it. He clumsily felt around for the remote. Upon finally finding it, he changed the channel, shutting the TV off, the silence in the room leaving him alone with his thoughts, which was scary territory for him seeing as how he hardly ever stop to think and let his thoughts surround him.

Sighing, he hopped off the couch and headed down the hallway, turning and entering Erik and Colin's bedroom, passing the bathroom along the way, hearing running water and humming coming from the only truly sanitary room in the whole house. He smiled when he saw Erik and Marshmallow on Erik's bed, lying next to each other, both writing in their notebooks, probably busy working on their letters to Santa. He chuckled to himself, still completely awestruck at the fact that someone in their twenties still believed in Santa Clause. Again, he could understand why Marshmallow was seeing as she was just starting her teens and therefore, had a lot of growing up to do. He walked across the room and sat down on Colin's bed, watching the pair before leaning over the bed and retrieving his laptop from his backpack. He hoped that he could get an Internet connection so he could get on Skype and hopefully get connected with his family. Chances were that Simon was on his own laptop while watching the Christmas special, the blue-clad chipmunk bored with the program and looking for something else to do. More than likely Simon was also on Skype, probably talking to one of his geeky friends from school or one of his extra curricular activities like the science club.

He looked upon suddenly hearing footsteps, making his ears twitch. He watched as Colin entered the bedroom, the raccoon's ringed tail bobbing to and fro.

"You almost done?" Colin asked Marshmallow. "You should be getting to bed."

As if the raccoon's words on some kind of effect on her, Marshmallow started to yawn. She smacked her lips after stretching, using a paw to scratch at her neck with her claws. She got down on all fours and stretched her arms and legs, her tail performing its best helicopter impression. She sat back down on her hindquarters and reached out for him, and he picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He carried her out of the room and to her room, setting her down in her crib and tucking her in, tucking Mr. Snuggles under her arm before walking out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

As he walked past the bedroom that he shared with Erik, Colin's ears twitched when they

picked up Erik's voice. His curiosity got the better of him and he stopped to take a listen.

"You're sure this isn't bothering you?" Erik asked Alvin.

The red-clad chipmunk gave a nod. "You bet. Don't worry about me, pal. You're not bothering me one bit. Why don't you go ahead and read to me what you have so far."

"O . . . Okay . . ." A rustling of paper was heard as the skunk picked up his letter to Santa and began reading it off, his friend sitting across from him being perfectly silent, listening intently as he read. He cleared his throat and coughed into his paw before speaking. "'Dear Santa, what do I want this year, you may ask? All I want is Colin . . . .'"

There was more to the letter than that, but Colin zoned out after hearing what Erik wanted for Christmas. All Erik wanted was him? Was Erik in love with him? It was possible. It wasn't anywhere near impossible. He recalled the night that he had watched Erik sleep and talk in his sleep. The skunk had uttered his name. Not only that, they had shared a quite passionate kiss the other night, a kiss that even now he recalled enjoying. Granted, he shouldn't have enjoyed it in the slightest, but he couldn't help himself. Were he and Erik meant to be?

He went to the living room and sat on the couch to think about it, his feet having started to hurt and him having grown tired of walking.

Erik gave Alvin an apologetic look.

"What?" Alvin asked.

Erik swallowed and gazed at the floor before glancing back up at Alvin once again, looking almost remorseful, regretful for what he was about to say. "I had to ask you, Alvin, really, I do." He wrung his paws. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind watching Marshmallow tomorrow while we're all at work?"

"You can't take her with you?"

The skunk smiled. "Oh, don't get me wrong. She's great help with Colin and me, but," his grin widened, "she has a tendency to eat the food before getting it to the customer, and I'm sure you've noticed her getting a little pudgy."

Alvin chuckled and playfully poked the skunk's belly. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't make the food so tasty."

Erik laughed and gently swatted Alvin's finger away. "I have no room to talk, really, since I sometimes do that myself. I let her have a few samples of the food to avoid this conflict since she tends to get hungry, as is expected when you're surrounded by such yummy food. Whatever leftovers we have we give to Colin to keep him from digging around in the neighbors' trash cans." He chuckled, making his body shake. "Anyway, you wouldn't mind watching her, would you?"

Alvin shook his head. "Nah. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Erik grinned. "Thanks." He yawned and stretched. "Well, best be getting to bed, then. Got to get up at five in the morning, you know?" With that, he turned and pulled back his covers before climbing into his bed, followed by Alvin. He couldn't help but smile as the red-clad chipmunk wrapped a warm, comforting arm around him. He took Alvin's hand and held it close to his chest, gently kissing it before falling into a deep slumber.

The TV was on, filling the living room with light, but Colin was simply staring at it blankly, his mind continuing to think about what Erik had said that he wanted for Christmas. No wonder the skunk hadn't told him at the mall, and had only confided in Alvin about his Christmas wish. The poor guy probably was scared stiff to tell him, because he was afraid that the raccoon would most likely never want to talk to him again, much less live under the same roof as him, afraid that he would be molested in the middle of the night.

Why on Earth would Erik think such a thing? After all, Colin was the one who had stood up for the depressed little skunk and had prevented the skunk from offing himself on more occasions than one, whereas his mother had been completely oblivioius to it due to her work. It had been Colin who had suggested that Erik start doing some creative writing and keeping a journal so the skunk had some form of outlet instead of constantly trying to kill himself. It was Colin who had Erik get over his depression and form a whole new perspective on life and had given him a better friend than the skunk could ever ask for.

Colin would _never_ abandon his family for anything, even if one of the members was apparently madly in love with him. In all honesty, Colin could see Erik was so in love with him. He was quite atractive. He was very slim and very handsome. When he wasn't making a pig of himself via bingeing on snack cakes like Twinkies and other foods, he was quite well-mannered. Because of his slim figure, he was constantly eating, trying to put on weight, believing himself to be too thin. Besides, he'd always loved the mental image of him with a full, bulging belly and a big, round furry rump. The mental picture of himself fattened up always made him smile, and the thought of being stuffed with food by one of his loved ones got him aroused, strangely enough.

His former girlfriend Rita had had a thing for fat guys and was constantly feeding him, ordering him as much food as he wanted when they ate out. The fact that she was a binge eater herself thanks to her horrid childhood didn't particularly help matters, and they would oftentimes go out in the middle of the night and raid garbage cans, stuffing themselves with as food as they could food, whatever they could get their greedy little paws on.

They had met one winter outside a deli. They had discovered each other while both had been digging through the trash looking for any leftovers that might have been thrown away. Surprisingly, they decided to share the back lot of the deli, sharing any food that they happened to come across, striking up polite conversation while gorging themselves on patries like pies and donuts and cakes and other goodies of which they found surprisingly vast quanities of. It didn't take long for their talkings to become somewhat erotic, both feeling the chill of the winter winds and both needing to find some way to stay warmer. While they had both gotten extremely fat from their overeating of the human food, extra fur and a filled belly didn't exactly make them warmer, unfortunately, and they found themselves needing to resort to more fun methods to keep warm, albeit the experience had been quite fun and extremely enjoyable for both parties involved, each experimenting with the other in various ways to see what worked and what was a complete turn-off. Naturally, they discovered each other's g-spots and used these to their full advantage, much to their pleasure as they made known to the world, the two of them unable to contain themselves for too long without screaming out their pleasure.

Looking back now, the whole thing made him smile. He didn't know he could land a girlfriend through food. Apparently, she had known that since she had used fod as a means of seducing him, seeming to know he became aroused out of having his cheeks and belly stuffed with food to the point where he had a horrible tummyache, but, hey, it was worht it! Totally worth it! And now, he found himself without a mate, a special someone to be with it, and his happy smile suddenly faded into a complete frown.

Unfortunately, this had the direct side effect of him thinking about Erik. He had told the skunk not to get involved when Rita had lost her shit during dinner, but a part of him was happy that Erik had gotten involved. It had showed him that Erik did love and care about him, as the skunk should have since Colin had done so much for him. He saw it as Erik's way of returning the favor. What had really tugged at his heartstrings was the fact that Erik had called him "brother." Granted, he was not biologically related to any of the members of the Matthews family, but they had taken him in under their wing and had sheltered and fed him as they would have any other member of their family.

They had done the same with Alvin. They considered the red-clad chipmunk family, and as a member of the family, Alvin had done his part to protect and defend Colin during Rita's rampage, although none of them had bothered to make sure he was all right before lashing out at the rampaging red fox. He recalled that the only thing he could taste was blood and nothing else, other than carpet. Nothing a warm washcloth and some toilet paper wrapped around his muzzle couldn't handle, although the latter did make his voice muffled and made him sound funny, which had been enjoyed by Marshmallow via his expense, although he was happy to see her happy, especially after she was so upset after the violent outburst of Rita. He never wanted to see that look on her face again. She had looked absolutely terrified of Erik as she'd crawled out from underneath her hiding place.

He would need more than one night to think about how he truly felt about it. At the moment, he was too tired to think properly. A good night's rest would refresh his mind and then he would be able to decide whether or not how he felt about Erik. With his decision made, he stood up and walked down the hall and silently slipped into the bedroom, only for a smile to appear on his face when he saw Erik and Alvin sleeping in the same bed. He had to admit that the two looked quite adorable in their current position, and he secretly admitted to himself that Erik looked cute when he was sleeping.

Walking up to the snoozing skunk, he ruffled the white fur on Erik's head, a warm smile coming across his lips, only to have it dashed by the cry coming from the bedroom beside his and Erik's through the thin beige wall directly in front of him.

"Colin?"

He entered Marshmallow's bedroom a couple of seconds later to see the white skunk sitting on her knees in her crib, one paw gripping one of the rails while the thumb on her other paw was jammed in her mouth, she idly sucking on it, looking around until her eyes landed on him, and she smiled and motioned for him to come closer. "Hey, sweetheart." He walked over and peered at her through the bars of her crib, pressing his muzzle through the spaces between them. "What's the matter, huh?"

"I can't sleep," she replied, still sucking on her thumb. In her other paw she was tightly clutching her favorite blue blanket. She gave him a nervous smile. "Could . . . could you sleep with me? Please?"

Shrugging, he replied, "Sure," and lowered the railing so he could climb in, not feeling like having to hop over it. He grabbed her blanket and spread it so that it was covering the two of them, then rested his head on her pillow, his eyes on hers while he put an arm around her and smiled at her.

She smiled at him. "You're forgetting, Colin. If you're going to sleep in the crib, you have to be a baby, remember?"

He chuckled. "Of course." He ruffled the silver gray fur on her head before climbing out of the crib and walking over to the changing table.

She sat up and watched him, gripping one of the bars with her paw while she sucked on her thumb. "D'you want me to help you?"

He turned to face her and merely shook his head. "No, thanks." Turning back around, he spotted the pack of diapers in one of the crates underneath the changing table and grabbed as many as he could in one paw. He counted them before smiling to himself. Seven would make for a good thick feel. He went over to her dresser and began looking through her chest of drawers. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow one of your shirts."

She shook her head. "No, not at all. You're so skinny that I'm sure I have some that might fit you."

He let out a groan as he firmly slapped his flat white stomach. "Tell me about it." He bent over, exposing his brown furry rump to her, his ringed tail swaying back and forth, the diapers still clutched in his paw. He removed a plain white t-shirt. He unfolded it and held it out at arm's length to get a good look at it before smiling to himself. He slipped the shirt on, it stopping just slightly above his belly, and he laid down on the floor, the stack of diapers beside him.

He grabbed the first diaper and unfolded it, pulling back the tabs and the tapes. He shivered in bliss as he slid the diaper underneath him, feeling the soft padding on his bottom. His ears went a-flutter as he heard the soft rustling of the diaper. His paws trembling, he brought the tapes toward the tabs and attached them to the front of the diaper before grabbing another diaper. He repeated this process until all seven diapers were on him. Grinning from ear to ear, he slapped the front of his diapers and rubbed them, moaning happily at the thickness of them and the feeling of his diapers as they caressed his furry rump.

Standing up, with some difficulty due to the thickness of his diapers, he waddled over to the dresser and fished around in one of the drawers until he drew out a blue pacifier that matched Marshmallow's t-shirt exactly. He grinned and shut the drawer before walking back over to Marshmallow's crib and climbing in, his thick diapered bottom causing him to bounce off the mattress until he was by Marshmallow's side. Grinning at her, he popped the pacifier in his mouth and began sucking on the nipple, his sister grinning at him from ear to ear. She reached forward and pinched his nose, causing him to sneeze, resulting in the pacifier shooting out of his mouth. She picked it up and gently placed it in his mouth after he opened his mouth for her to do so. She patted his head and her grin seemed to grow all the more wider. He put an arm around her, drawing her close, and they both closed their eyes, eventually going to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Colin's eyes fluttered open. The room was somewhat brighter than what it had been when he'd fallen asleep. Beside him Marshmallow was sleeping soundly, Mr. Snuggles cradled in her arms while the nipple of her baby bottle was limply in her mouth, the bottle lying lop-sided by her head. Looking down he noticed that her diaper was wet and sagging, the end result of her feeding last night before being put to bed. It wasn't until he moved around that he noticed his own diaper was a messy, it filled with the food that had been turned into bodily waste only after a few hours of having eaten it. He smiled to himself. Oddly enough, he loved the feeling of a full diaper. Wearing as many diapers as he could put on at one time accomplished this feeling, as it did for both Erik and Marshmallow.

He had no need to stand up and call out for Renee to come in. She always woke up early in the morning to fix a fresh pot of coffee and get ready for work. During this time she would check on Marshmallow or Erik and Colin to see if they needed changing or wanted an early breakfast. Right on cue she walked in the room and smiled upon seeing that Colin was already up and waiting for her. He bounced up and down on the mattress, not caring at all if he woke up Marshmallow at all since she needed to be changed anyway. He reached out for her as she approached him and let out a cooing sound when she picked him up and cradled him in her arms.

"How's my baby boy today?" she said sweetly, tickling his chin, making him giggle and kick his legs. "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded his head, staring up at her and smiling.

She put a paw on his diapered bottom, although she didn't need to necessarily do this to notice that he needed to be changed. She carried him over to the changing table and removed the first six diapers before finally removing the seventh and final one, the one that was dirty. The remaining six were clean, oddly enough. She cleaned and powdered his genitals and his furry bottom before slipping the remaining six diapers back on him. During the process, they both heard a whine from behind and both looked to see that Marshmallow had awakened and was waiting her turn to be changed. Renee reassured her daughter that she would get changed as soon as she was done changing Colin. Once she was finished with Colin, she set him down on the floor and proceeded to change Marshmallow before going and changing Erik's diaper.

Once all three were changed, they were led to the kitchen by Renee for their breakfast while Alvin continued to sleep on. For breakfast, they each chose to have a couple of Pop Tarts before Erik, Colin, and Renee went to get ready for work while Marshmallow stayed in Erik's room and watched Alvin sleep, sucking on her thumb, her white and silver-gray tail swishing back and forth like a dog that was about to be fed by its master.

Just before leaving for Erik's Eats, Colin woke up Alvin while Erik went and got the car started so that it was nice and toasty by the time they left the house. The red-clad chipmunk woke up and rubbed his eyes and listened carefully as Colin explained that he would now be left to take care of Marshmallow while the others went to work, telling him that she had already been fed her breakfast and therefore wouldn't need to be fed until around lunchtime. If they so wished they could sleep until then or try to find something to do to entertain themselves. After his speech and making sure that Alvin understood him well enough, the raccoon left the two of them alone.

Yawning, Alvin turned to Marshmallow, smacking his lips. She smiled up at him while she sucked her thumb. He lied back down and she lied down next beside him, placing a paw on the pillow and the other underneath it. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other.

"What say we get a few more hours of shut eye before getting some lunch, eh, Marshmallow?" Alvin suggested.

She nodded her head before yawning, stretching her mouth as wide as it would open before smacking her lips and getting close to Alvin, snuggling into his chest and closing her eyes to go to sleep.

It was a little past noon by the time the two of them woke up. By this time Marshmallow was in need of a diaper change. Alvin took her into her room and changed her diaper without any problems at all. She was grinning ear from ear, sighing in content as Alvin changed her diaper, inhaling the smell of the baby powder deeply, letting out a moan of pleasure in the process and giggling when Alvin playfully tickled her tailhole, making her tail wag.

The two of them went in the kitchen soon thereafter and began looking through the cabinets in search of something to eat for lunch. For her there was a large quantity of jars of baby food. For him there were a few packets of Ramen Noodles and jars of peanut butter and grape flavored jelly for sandwiches. Knowing Marshmallow she would eat a few jars of baby food and then ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He looked down at her and noticed how terribly thin she looked. Looking at her one wouldn't think that anyone properly fed her. He was going to feed her as much as possible, hopefully make her a tad bit fatter. Hopefully, her family wouldn't mind. Surely Erik and Colin wouldn't. As for Renee, he was unsure.

He picked her up and carried her over to the high chair. He strapped her in before walking back over to the cabinet and looking through the different flavors of baby food. He didn't think it would matter which ones he picked. He tried his best to pick a flavor for every food group. For veggies and meats he picked mashed turkey and peas. For fruits he picked banana. There were no flavors for grains. Not finding any flavors for any of the other food groups, he decided to pick some flavor for dessert. He was surprised when they had pumpkin pie as a dessert. Sensing that she had a strong sweet tooth like her brothers he grabbed it. With his arms full of jars of baby food, he walked back over to the high chair. Once he piled the jars on the table he pulled out a chair and sat down, positioning it so that he was facing her. She smiled at him while she watched him pry off one of the lids to the jars (quite difficult to do, mind you) and was about to feed her until he was reminded that he had forgotten her spoon.

Once he had her spoon (he wasn't surprised to find that it was pink) he went about feeding her. Unfortunately for him, she was quite stubborn when it came to baby food. He tried but failed to get her to eat, only to have her keep turning her head away from the spoon and pushing it away, constantly whining "Mm-mm," whenever he begged her to eat the stuff. He honestly couldn't blame her. The food didn't smell too pleasant, so he imagined that it didn't taste any better. Shrugging, he decided to try a bit. As soon as he tasted it, he spit it out, making her laugh wildly in the process, and put the jar of baby food aside. With the spoon resting against the rim, it fell over due to the weight of the spoon, spilling a little bit of baby food on the table. He removed the spoon and set it aside before setting the jar upright and cleaning off the baby food with a discarded washcloth.

He turned to her. "Well, since you don't feel like eating baby food, what do you feel like eating?" When she shrugged her shoulders, he unbuckled her from the high chair and carried her over to the cabinet while stating, "Come on, let's go see if we can't find something for you to eat." No sooner had he opened the cabnet door was it that she grabbed the nearest jar of peanut butter that she could find, giggling happily and hugging it to her chest, squirming around in Alvin's arms, smacking her lips, her eyes growing wide.

She was put back in her high chair while he went about fixing her a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as a couple for himself. He cleaned out her baby bottle that he'd found in her crib and fixed her a baby bottle of warm milk with honey for sweetener. Curious as to how the concution tasted he decided to fix himself a glass of the stuff, hoping that it tasted better than the baby food that he'd tasted. Pondering if it would taste better with the stuff in it, he added at least one teaspoon of nutmeg and mixed it in with the warm sweetened honey. He smiled to himself before giving her the food and her drink and then put his own food and drink on the table.

He was grateful that she was able to feed herself. This made it so that he was able to eat his food without having to worry about feeding her. He had no doubt, however, that if she had the choice she would have liked for him to feed her. Due to the peanut butter both of them were taking drinks of their milk every so often to prevent themselves from choking. She remembered what Erik had gone through when he'd eaten too much peanut butter at one time and hadn't been able to reach the sink to get a drink of water in time. If it hadn't been for Colin saving him by way of slithering his tongue down the skunk's mouth (and she'd thought that Colin was kissing him against Erik's will) and managing to get the peanut butter out of Erik's throat, the skunk would have choked to death. Luckily for her and the rest of the family, Colin knew CPR, but he hadn't exactly classified what he'd done as CPR.

The two ate in silence. After a while he got up to get her a bib, feeling that she would have preferred one anyway. There was a pink one and a blue one. He chose the blue one since it went well with her blue t-shirt. He clipped it on her just as some jelly dangling from her chin fell. It hit the edge of the bib and slid down towards her shirt, not that she seemed to mind. She chuckled and took another large bite out of her sandwich, smacking her lip and happily chewing, just as he was.

After they were done with lunch, Marshmallow, for the most part, was quite a mess, covered from head to toe in peanut butter and jelly, while some milk stains had somehow managed to get on her shirt. She laughed as she stared at herself in the mirror in the bathroom once Alvin had taken her out of her high chair and carried her to the bathroom to give her a bath. Her shirt and diaper were removed, the diaper being tossed in the trash can in the kitchen and the t-shirt put in the hamper in the garage where the washing machine and dryer were located. She remained in the bathroom sucking her thumb while he went to her bedroom to get her a new shirt and a fresh diaper.

Instead of taking a bath in the bathtub she, for some odd reason, preferred to take one in the sink. He had no problems with this. She at least fit, which was more than he could say for Erik and Colin or himself, for that matter. He used the sprinkler next to the faucet to rinse the soap and shampoo off her, making her laugh. He watched as she happily splashed in the water and played with her little ducky and other bath toys. At long last, sadly, she was removed from the tub and wrapped up in a towel and set down on the floor so he could dry her off while the warm water was drained, leaving mounds of soapy suds in the tub along with her bath toys. He dried her off and, upon hearing her yawn, suggested that she be put to bed, to which she happily agreed with an enthusiastic nod of her head. He put her in her bassinet with a bottle of warm milk and gently tucked her in, sitting down beside her and rocking the bassinet with his hand, watching her until she finished her bottle of milk and went to sleep.

With it being only two more days until Christmas, Renee and the others decided that it was a good idea to go ahead and get the Christmas tree set up. The group hauled in the Christmas decorations from the garage and Alvin helped Erik, Colin, and Renee load in the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was placed right in front of the living room window, a couple of feet away from the front door. The cardboard boxes that housed the Christmas decorations (aptly titled "Christmas decorations") were set down and the five of them began sorting through the tangled mess of Christmas lights and ornaments. Erik and Marshmallow somehow managed to get themselves all tangled up in the Christmas to the point where they were covered from head to toe in them, even their tails were tightly grasped by the Christmas, making it so they couldn't move. After laughing at them for a while (and Erik and Marshmallow also laughing back sarcastically before demanding someone help them out of the mess), Alvin and Colin untangled the pair out of the Christmas and they went about decorating the tree, starting with the Christmas lights that were woven around and around the tree before the ornaments were put on display via the branches.

Because of her small stature, Marshmallow oftentimes had to be picked up in order to put an ornmaent that was far above her head near the top of the three. The others didn't seem to mind this, although they did end up taking turns due to the strain on their backs that picking her up caused, not that she was severely overweight, mind you. However, since their return home, the other members of the family had noticed that she had gotten extremely fat since they'd left her alone with Alvin earlier in the day, and expected that the chipmunk had spent the day feeding her as much as possible as a means of fattening her up, probably feeling that she was too skinny. Oddly enough, as he thought about this, Colin wished that he would receive the same treatment, feeling that he himself was too skinny and since he loved food and eating.

Erik also needed to be hoisted up to reach high places on the tree. The two people to do this most often were either Alvin or Colin. The latter did it most often because Erik insisted on it. While not very bright, Alvin knew the reason behind Erik's desires. Hopefully, the skunk would admit his feelings for Colin before Christmas so they could spend the entire day together, just the two of them.

After all of the Christmas lights and decorations were put on the tree (the house having already been decked with festive lights) the others went in the kitchen and cooked some popcorn and attached the pieces to bits of string before wrapping them around the Christmas tree. Erik and Colin seemed to be unable to resist the urge to sneak few bites of popcorn as the two were constantly eating at each end and ending up meeting each other in the middle. More than once their lips touched in a soft but sweet kiss and both instantly pulled away, embarrassed, although Alvin could see that Erik was elated at the incident, whereas Colin appeared to be disgusted, much to Erik's dismay, Alvin observed. Even Marshmallow wasn't immune to her appetite. While not as fat as Erik, she did have quite a ravenous appetite like her brothers, an appetite that seemed to be awakened by Alvin. She also couldn't help but eat a few pieces of popcorn and she and Erik ended up kissing each other as they met in the middle, only the two of them found the moment extremely sweet and cute, unlike Colin. For some reason when Erik and Marshmallow ended up kissing, the raccoon couldn't help but smile and think the moment was cute and sweet, probably because they were brother and sister and there was a big age difference between them, whereas he and Erik were brothers and relatively the same age. Using this logic, Alvin could understand the raccoon's differing views on the matter.

Once the Christmas tree was fully decorated (with bits of string with several missing pieces of popcorn to complete the ensemble) the family went in the kitchen and each fixed themselves a mug of hot cocoa, Marshmallow having someone fix hers since the others were afraid she would burn herself. The skunk didn't seem to be bothered by this in the slightest. It was clear to Alvin by the diapers, the baby food, the baby bottles, and the other babyish paraphernalia that the white skunk absolutely loved being the baby of the family, and her family treated her thusly, much to her delight. They went in the living room and flipped on the television, although no one was really watching the programs that were on. With it being Christmas the usual TV specials were on. While drinking their hot cocoa with marshmallows, they talked amongst themselves, particularly Erik, Colin, and Alvin. Meanwhile, Marshmallow and her mother snuggled close and enjoyed being close to each other while they drank their hot cocoa.

Marshmallow was the first to fall asleep. Almost as soon as she finished her hot cocoa she let out a yawn and snuggled into the warmth of her mother's fur on her belly and went to sleep, curling up into a tiny ball, wrapping her tail around her body to serve as a blanket. Renee lovingly cradled Marshmallow in her arms and rocked her baby skunk back and forth until Marshmallow's soft breathing indicated that she had fallen asleep. The others simply watched.

Alvin watched Marshmallow closely as she was rocked back and forth. She looked so . . . _happy_ , so peaceful. He let out a depressed sigh and wondered what it was about the holiday season that always seemed to get him in a depressed state. He'd heard that lack of sunlight could cause depression. That would explain why there were so many suicides in Alaska this time of the year. At least that's what he'd heard. He continued to watch Marshmallow. He shook his head at the thought of some of the neighbors or some of Erik and Colin's friends (what little they had, mind you, not many people wanting to spend time with the basketball star who'd befriended the loser of the school) claiming that Marshmallow was nothing more than a spoiled, pampered brat just because her family seemingly gave her whatever she wanted. Such wasn't true, at least not from what Alvin had observed.

From what he'd seen, the family's ultimate goal was to make sure that all of the members of the household were happy, including Marshmallow. If diapers and being treated like a baby were what Marshmallow happy, then what kind of family would they be to deny the right to be treated like the baby she was. After all, she was the baby of the family, and she seemed to take this role quite literally. What, with the diapers, the pacifiers, the baby food, the baby bottles, and the being cared for by her brothers and her mother, especially her brothers. With her being the baby of the family of course she would have to be looked after quite often, while others merely stated that the others waited on her hand and foot like they were her slaves.

And yet, Marshmallow wasn't the only one who was the baby of the family. It seemed the baby lifestyle had also infected Erik and Colin as well, from what Alvin had seen over the past couple of days. The two of them enjoyed being diapered and babied, as indicated by the fact that Alvin had seen Colin in diapers and a t-shirt sleeping with Marshmallow in her crib when he'd woken up to get something to drink the previous night. The sight had really been adorable, at least to him. He was glad that Renee didn't mind treating them like the babies they were.

Maybe that's what was wrong with him. Maybe he was fed up with the rushed pace of his life and wanted to slow down a little, to return to a simpler time when his life wasn't so hectic. Still, he couldn't bring himself to ask Renee if he could be treated like Erik and his siblings were. He was the tough one, after all. Not only that, but he would most likely piss himself if he even attempted such a thing. He would be too nervous to get the words out. He wondered how lucky Erik and the others knew they were.

Marshmallow was carried to her room and placed in her crib and tucked in by Colin. Alvin loved how fatherly the raccoon was towards the baby skunk. It was a really touching, sweet, cute sight to behold, one that the red-clad chipmunk doubted he would ever get sick of. Once he'd put her to bed with a fresh diaper, Colin himself decided to go to bed, and Renee also retired to her bedroom to get a good night's sleep soon thereafter, leaving Alvin and Erik alone in the living room, with Renee requesting them not to stay up too late and to get to bed early to get a good night's sleep. They promised they would. Alvin most likely wouldn't keep his promise and would unintentionally stay up a little past midnight.

The television was still on, still going, but neither one of them was watching it. Their eyes were glued to the living room window. Thanks to the tree they could barely see out of it. From what they could see out of it, though, it looked as if they were going to have a white Christmas.

"So," Alvin said, turning back to Erik, smiling at the portly skunk, "have you decided yet?"

"About whether or not I should give Colin his special Christmas present?" Erik asked.

The red-clad chipmunk nodded his head once.

The skunk looked down at the floor, fiddling with his toes. His striped tail managed to find its way to his front and he began stroking its tip, looking nervous. "I," he swallowed, "I don't know. I-I-I mean, what if he says no? What if he rejects me?" He gripped his head and let out a groan. "What if he wants to move out and never wants to talk to or see me again?!"

"Erik, Erik, Erik," Alvin replied gently, "you're thinking about this way too hard. Come on, you should know Colin better than that. From what I've seen, he would never do that. He cares why too much about you and this family to just up and leave just because you've got a somewhat disturbing crush on him."

"Disturbing?" The skunk looked at Alvin curiously.

"Well, you do have a shrine dedicated to him in a secret corner of the garage."

Erik blushed and groaned once again. "Please promise me you won't tell him."

"I think he would find it rather sweet, flattering, even."

Erik glared at him.

Alvin sighed. "All right, all right, I won't tell him."

"How did you know?"

"I discovered it when I was getting the last box of decorations. Colin asked me what I was looking at, but I managed to get him out of the garage before he could get a decent look."

Erik sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"I won't tell him," Alvin repeated, "but you should. You keep this all bottled up it's going to end up making you sick."

"I just don't want to be rejected again," Erik replied sadly, hugging his tail, "like I have been so many times before."

Alvin shook his head. "I'm sure Colin knows of your past relationships, and I'm sure he would never do anything to hurt you."

Erik smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He suddenly leaned forward and pecked Alvin on the cheek. "Thanks for the talk, Alvin."

Alvin ruffled the white fur on Erik's head. "Anytime. You should be getting some sleep."

"Yeah, I suppose I should." He yawned and stretched. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Are you working tomorrow?"

Erik beamed. "No. The restaurant's closed. It's Christmas Eve tomorrow, remember?"

Alvin nodded. "Right. Okay, in that case, yeah, I guess you will see me tomorrow."

Erik's face lit up and he clasped his paws together excitedly. "Great!" He scampered down the hall, then suddenly stopped and turned back to face Alvin. "Are you coming?"

Alvin nodded. "Yeah. You go on ahead. I'll be in there in a minute."

Erik smiled. "Okay." He turned on his heel and went down the hall.

Alvin stared at the television screen for a moment or two before lifting the remote and turning it off, the screen going blank with a flash of white light, the light fading to black in the center of the screen until the entire room was shrouded in darkness, save for the light on in the dining room. He turned it off with a flick of a switch before walking down the hall and entering the bedroom that Erik and Colin shared. He smiled sweetly when he saw the two of them in Colin's bed, the raccoon holding the skunk tightly, as if protecting him from unseen force, whispering something in Erik's ear that Alvin couldn't decipher. It wasn't any of his business anyway. He walked across the room and pulled back the covers of Erik's bed, earning a nod from the skunk as he did so, letting him know that it was okay if Alvin used his bed for the night since he wouldn't be needing it. Alvin climbed in the bed and turned his back to them, pulling the covers up to his neck and pretending to be asleep so the two of them could have some alone time together.

The Matthews home was abuzz with excitement the following day, each member of the household in a cherry mood. Even Colin, who was usually somewhat grouchy in the early mornings until he'd had his coffee like his mother, seemed to be in an upbeat mood, even before he'd taken his first sip of coffee. The group sat at the coffee table sipping their coffee, Marshmallow settling for warm milk with honey for sweetener, which came as no surprise to anyone in particular.

"Mail," Alvin announced, walking in the room with a wad of envelopes.

"Anything for me?" Colin inquired, taking a drink of coffee. "I'm expecting a letter."

Alvin looked through the various envelopes. Not to his surprise most of them were the usual bills and mortgage payments. Every now and then he would come across an envelope addressed to someone other than Renee Matthews. There were some envelopes for Erik and Marshmallow, probably holiday cards with money inside from relatives. Smiling, he finally found an envelope addressed to Colin, though he was perplexed as to why there was no return address. He handed the envelope to Colin without question, and the raccoon eagerly ripped open the envelope and pulled out what appeared to be a piece of printer paper. Alvin watched as the raccoon's eyes drifted from left to right. Apparently he was reading. Alvin could only guess that he was reading a letter.

He didn't want to be nosey, but Alvin couldn't help but be a little curious. "Who's it from?" He gripped the raccoon's shoulders and began massaging them. He didn't know why. He supposed it was just out of habit. Still, Colin didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He heard the raccoon let out a soft moan of pleasure and lean back into the hands that gripped his shoulders.

"It's from my secret admirer," Colin replied, grinning as he continued to read.

Alvin looked up to see Erik watching Colin intently and he smiled to himself, having a pretty good idea of who Colin's secret admirer was. He was glad that Erik had found a way to reveal his true feelings towards Colin without the raccoon finding out that it was him, but Alvin saw potential harm in this strategy. How was Colin going to react when he found out that it was Erik and not some hot babe who was his secret admirer? True, Colin cared a great deal about Erik, but Alvin didn't think that the raccoon was actually in love with the corpulent skunk, although Colin had shown on numerous occasions he had a great deal of affection towards Erik. Realizing this, Alvin at least hoped that things would go over well for the skunk. If there was one thing that he had in common with this family, it was that he cared a great deal about them, all of them, especially Erik and Marshmallow.

"You want to read it?"

Alvin looked down to see that Colin was looking over his shoulder, holding up the folded letter to his face. He nodded and took the letter and unfolded it and began to read, smiling. It seemed as if Erik had wanted to be completely honest in his letter. Of course at the end of the letter there was no signature. There was simply the words "your secret admirer" and that was it. Nothing more, nothing less, just as it should have been, at least in Alvin's opinion. He folded the letter and handed it back to Colin before walking over to the coffeepot and began fixing himself a mug of coffee while Renee went towards the table with breakfast.

"Alvin, would you mind fixing Marshmallow her bottle?" Renee asked.

"Sure," Alvin replied, nodding.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." She walked over to the table and set Erik and Colin's plates in front of them. She looked up when she heard Marshmallow whining in her high chair, kicking and squirming. "Calm down, Marshmallow. Your breakfast is coming. Alvin's getting it." She ruffled the silver-gray fur on her daughter's head and planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Just chill out."

Marshmallow nodded and began sucking on her thumb to satisfy her craving for some warm milk, a large smile appearing on her face in the process.

Seeing as how he'd done so once before, it wasn't hard at all for Alvin to fix Marshmallow a baby bottle of milk. He knew how to fix it. He added honey for sweetener and a dash of nutmeg before heating it up in the microwave. He smiled as she let out a squeal of joy when he approached her with her bottle. He unstrapped her from her high chair and carried her to the living room. He set her in his lap and began feeding her, she smiling up at him while she sucked on the nipple of the bottle, kicking her little legs, her diaper rustling as she performed the action. She rubbed the front of her diaper with one paw while she gripped her bottle with the other, moaning in silent pleasure at the sound that her diaper made when she moved her paw up and down on it. He could wait for breakfast. He wasn't that hungry anyway. Making sure Marshmallow got her nourishment was more important. Besides, she looked so cute when she was acting like a baby that he couldn't resist wanting to treat her like the baby she was.

To keep her entertained during her feeding, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV and began flipping through the various channels, only to be dissatisfied when he realized that there was nothing on. What else was new? He shrugged his shoulders and decided that they could listen to some cherry Christmas music while he fed her. He changed the channel to one of the channel that was something like a radio where it played nothing but music. Aside from the information box that listed the song, artist, and the album the song could be found on, the screen was completely black. He set the remote down and began rocking her back and forth while he kept feeding her, the slow melodic Christmas tune seeming to put her to sleep. Whether it was the music or the warm milk that was making her sleepy he didn't know, and honestly didn't care. The only thing was that she would want to be put back to bed once she was done with her bottle, which was probably for the best since there was nothing to watch on TV and he still needed to help Erik with impressing Colin, although the skunk seemed to be doing that well by himself.

Hearing a burp, he looked down to see Marshmallow smiling, patting and rubbing her belly. She opened her mouth and pointed, although she did look like she was about to fall asleep. Nonetheless, he decided to fix her another bottle of milk. He set her on the floor and went in the kitchen where Renee was busy cleaning the kitchen. He declined the offer of breakfast, stating that he wasn't hungry at the moment and could wait until lunch for something to eat.

While waiting for Alvin to return, Marshmallow began crawling around on the floor, her diaper rustling audibly as she moved, a sound that she felt she would never get tired of. She crawled all over the living room, observing different objects of interest such as pictures and the brightly colored wrapping paper of the presents and the pretty bows on top. She examined the tags on the presents before looking up and giggling at her reflection of the large orbs that were one of the ornaments that hung from one of the branches of the piney Christmas tree. Seeing Alvin in the reflection of the orb, she swiftly turned around and crawled over to him, hugging onto his leg and staring up at him with glee. She was once again picked up and set in Alvin's lap. No sooner was she in this position was it that she grabbed the bottle of milk and began drinking, squealing in joy and kicking her legs wildly, her tail wagging happily.

"Slow down, sweetie," he said gently, stroking her silver-gray fur tenderly. He was relieved when she slowed down her sucking, as if realizing that if she didn't she would choke herself. He continued to pet the silver-gray fur on her head while his other hand held the bottom of the bottle. She looked so happy that he couldn't help but smile to himself. What couldn't he achieve this happiness that she and the others seemed to have? Maybe role playing as a little baby had something to do with it. Yes, that must have had something to do with it. The only problem was that there was no one in his family that would be willing to diaper and baby him. Maybe Simon would, but no one else probably would otherwise.

She closed her eyes and kept sucking on the nipple of the bottle, some milk trickling down her chin. Luckily, the drops of milk fell on her bib, saving her t-shirt from getting dirty. She opened her eyes and her smile widened upon seeing Alvin smiling down at her. She snuggled closer to him to keep warm. She felt slightly chilly, which she shouldn't have since the house should have been nice and toasty to combat the cold weather outside.

At long last the last drop of milk was drank and she was put in her crib for a nap while Colin left for the mall to do some last-minute shopping. Alvin was surprised that the mall was even open on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Erik went with Renee to run some errands, claiming that he needed to run some errands himself, once again leaving Alvin with Marshmallow, not that the red-clad chipmunk minded. He loved spending time with Marshmallow and taking care of her.

The skunk woke up around lunchtime. Assuming that the others would grab a bite to eat while they were out, Alvin decided to go ahead and fix some lunch for the two of them. He couldn't think of anything good. Besides, he wasn't in the mood for anything real specific. The only thing he felt like eating was Ramen Noodles. He fixed two bowlfuls of the stuff and hoped that Marshmallow wouldn't mind. He went and got her when he heard her crying and carried her to the kitchen where he strapped her into her high chair and handed her the bowl of noodles before sitting down at the table and beginning to eat his own meal. He was grateful when she started eating without complaint, although she did begin whining when she realized that the food was too hot for her to eat. He suggested just letting it cool for a couple of minutes while he continued to eat, the two of them making idle conversation in the meantime.

After lunch, Marshmallow went to go play in her room while Alvin mingled in the kitchen. Smelling something sweet, she walked in the kitchen, dragging Mr. Snuggles behind her. When she reached Alvin she tugged on his sweater. When he looked down at her she asked, "What are you doing?" She stared up at him, sucking on her thumb, waiting for an answer from him. She sniffed the air and licked her lips and rubbed her belly. "Mmm! Something smells good!"

He knelt down so that he was eye-level with her. "D'you like cookies?"

She nodded her head eagerly, still sucking her thumb. "Uh-huh!"

He stood back up and beamed down at her. "Great!"

She peered into the stove window, her thick striped tail wagging. "Is that what you're baking? Cookies?"

" _Christmas_ cookies, to be exact." He took off the oven mitts and set them aside on the counter by the sink.

"Yay!"

He grinned and ruffled the fur on her head. "I thought you'd like the idea."

"Can we try some after they're done?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

"Yay!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Marshmallow was called into the kitchen some time later. She smiled when she saw a pan with several cookies on them resting on the stove. She was picked up by Alvin and set on the counter. She took the cookie he handed her, thanking him heartily before opening her mouth and taking a bite of her cookie along with him. Her face lit up as she chewed, the sugary goodness causing her body to tingle and vibrate, as if the cookie were filling her with some sort of newfound energy that made her just want to run around and not stop until she was tired. "Mmm!" She took another bite, cramming her cheeks with the sugary cookie before finally shoving the rest into her mouth and dusting off her paws.

"Good, huh?" he agreed, smiling.

She nodded her head, her cheeks too full for her to respond verbally. She swallowed, only to lick the inside of her mouth in a futile attempt to use her saliva to wash down the sugary cookie that made her throat dry. "Can we have another? Also, is there any milk in the fridge? My throat's dry."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, mine too." He walked over to the fridge and took out the jug of milk and set it on the counter, then looked over at her and realized that she was still waiting for an answer. "Yeah, I don't having one more cookie will hurt us." He picked her up and carried her over to the pan. With her attached to his hip, he picked up a cookie and gave it to her before picking one up for himself and biting into it. He watched her as he chewed. As soon as he was finished, he grabbed another cookie. "Or two . . ."

Marshmallow let out a loud burp, patting up and rubbng her stomach before lying back down on the kitchen floor. She turned her head and seized her baby bottle, chugging down what was left of the milk inside before she tossed the bottle aside and let out another loud burp, letting out a sigh of content as she continued to pat and rub her belly. "Oh, man . . ." She playfully poked her bloated belly. "God, I'm stuffed!"

Alvin giggled, lying beside her. "You said it." He struggled to sit up, but ended up lying back down to his tummyache. "We should've stopped after the second pan." He burped. "Or fourth. I lost count after the fifth . . . or seventh."

The two of them were lying on the kitchen floor, both too full to get up. The jug of milk was lying a few feet away from him, now completely empty. The pan was lying by Marshmallow's feet, her having licked off the crumbs before crashing to the floor and letting out a low groan of pain while gripping her aching stomach. Still, she couldn't deny the fact that she was somewhat happy that she'd gotten a chance to get as fat as her brother Erik.

Marshmallow had put on so much weight in so little time that the tapes on the diaper she was wearing were barely able to stay attached to the front of her diaper. It didn't help matters that her diaper was full with her fecal matter and urine. If she used her diaper for its intended purpose one more time, she didn't think the diaper would be able to hold it. She moved her legs. Despite that her diaper was so full she was afraid to move in fear of breaking the tapes, she still enjoyed the thickness that her full diaper provided. She playfully poked the front of her diaper and slightly moved her legs, making it rustle. "I think I'm gonna need a bigger diaper." She giggled. "Luckily for me, my brother's so fat that we have some bigger diapers available." Her tail swished across the floor as she looked over at Alvin and grinned at him.

The red-clad chipmunk nodded his head slowly, his vision somewhat messed up at the moment due to him feeling so full. "Uh-huh . . ." He sniffed the air and cringed. "Yeah, you do need a new diaper . . . right now." He rolled over onto his side and let out a groan as he struggled to get up. He began to stumble backward but was caught at the last second by Marshmallow. She had somehow found the strength to get up and catch him in time. He thanked her and led her to her bedroom. "I could go for a nap. How 'bout you?"

She nodded weakly. She was picked up and laid down on the changing table. She was surprised at how calm and collected Alvin was as he changed her messy diaper. She had expected him to be gagging and turning away due to the smell. For some reason, however, the smell didn't appear to bother him as much as she expected. He cleaned her off, using more than two baby wipes in order to do so. Since her butt had gotten bigger with the fatter she'd gotten, the baby wipes didn't exactly get the job done, leading him to having to use toilet paper instead, not that she minded. Eventually, though, her bottom and genitalia was completely cleaned. Just to ensure the smell was taken care of, he made sure to bathe her lower regions and her butt with soap so he wouldn't risk getting the smell on his fingers when he went to powder her. He did that next before going to Erik's bedroom and fishing around under the skunk's bed until he found the package of diapers that looked like they would fit a portly skunk . . . and Marshmallow as well since she'd gotten quite fat from all of the cookies she'd eaten. She'd eaten far more cookies than Alvin had, him not much caring for sweets like cookies.

Once she was put into a fresh diaper and her t-shirt changed (it was covered in cookie crumbs and milk stains) she was put to bed and tucked in. He kissed her on her forehead, then went in Erik and Colin's bedroom to take a nap himself.

"Whoa! You guys made a hell of a mess!"

Alvin jerked awake as he heard Colin's voice. He sat up and luckily for him his stomachache was now gone. He hopped out of bed and walked in the kitchen to see Colin observing the dirty countertops and the empty boxes of cookie dough. He cleared his throat, causing the raccoon to look at him.

"What did you guys do?" Colin demanded.

"Well, we baked a batch of cookies," Alvin began.

"I can see that!"

Alvin's cheeks burned red, feeling embarrassed. "Well, we baked some cookies and we ended up eating them all."

"That much is obvious." He chuckled and pointed to Alvin's distended belly.

Alvin looked down and noticed just how fat he'd gotten from eating all of the cookies, although Marshmallow was a lot fatter than he was since she'd eaten more than him. He looked up at Colin and gave the raccoon an apologetic look. "Just wait 'til you see Marshmallow? She's fatter than I am."

Colin actually smiled at this. "Well, at least you did something right. That girl could use some pounds."

Alvin blinked. "You're not mad?"

Colin shook his head and approached the red-clad chipmunk. "Nah. Besides, we were looking to get rid of all those cookies anyway, although Mom was planning on baking some tonight before putting us to bed." He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well. But you guys could have at least left us some."

Alvin rubbed the back of his neck and looked down, his cheeks once again burning due to his embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Colin waved his paw in a dismissive manner. "Eh, don't worry about. Besides," he playfully poked Alvin in the stomach, "I like you better this way. You're much cuter."

Alvin chuckled and playfully pushed Colin away. "Oh, shut up. What are you doing back here?"

"I just came home to get ready for my date."

Alvin blinked, confused. "Date?"

The raccoon nodded, suddenly looking excited. "Yeah! My secret admirer wants to meet up in the park and spend the evening together."

Alvin smiled, then suddenly frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah!" He dashed down the hall towards his room.

Alvin followed. When he entered the room he saw nothing but Colin's furry behind as the raccoon was bent over in his closet, tossing aside careless items like boxes and rolls of Christmas wrapping paper. "Um . . ., Colin?"

The racoon didn't stop his search as he answered, "Hmm?" His furry, ringed tail was swishing at the air.

For some odd reason, Alvin couldn't stop staring at the coon's furry rear end. He seemed to entranced by it, for whatever reason. Clearing his throat and trying to get his head cleared he said, "What, if, uh, what if your date isn't exactly what you'd expect, wasn't your type?"

Suddenly, Colin stopped and merely looked over his shoulder, not doing anything to divert Alvin's gaze away from his furry hindquarters. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what is your type?"

Colin sputtered his lips. "Anyone I find attractive, really. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm just afraid that your date may not be what you'd expect. Maybe you should think long and hard about going to meet this potential love interest of yours. She may not be what you'd expect."

"Since when do you take an interest in my love life?"

Alvin looked down. "Sorry."

Finally, Colin turned and rested his paws on Alvin's shoulders, smiling down at him. "Hey, don't worry about it, buddy. It just shows that you care about me, is all."

"Y-Yeah, okay," Alvin agreed, smiling. "Whatever you say, Colin." He stared into the raccoon's baby blue eyes and he suddenly had the uncontrollable urge to launch himself at Colin and give the most passion-filled kiss the raccoon had ever received. He let out a sigh of relief when the raccoon turned and continued his quest. Any longer and the compulsion would have grown too much for Alvin and he would have acted upon his impulses.

"Ah, here it is." The raccoon stepped out of the closet, holding up a very nice-looking tuxedo that was protected by a plastic covering to protect it from the outside elements such as dust and dirt. He removed the plastic covering and dusted off the tuxedo before walking to the bathroom and neatly hanging the tuxedo up above the door on a hook. He stripped off his shirt and tossed it on the floor, showing off his nice-looking chest, making Alvin feel self-conscious and the chipmunk looked away, still having the uncontrollable urge to kiss the raccoon.

Alvin watched as Colin adjusted the temperature of the water and gently pulled back the shower curtain. For the life of him, Alvin couldn't stop himself from staring at the raccoon's backside. What the hell was wrong with him?! Certainly he couldn't be in love with the raccoon, could he? No, he couldn't be! That wouldn't have been fair to Erik. After all, the skunk was the one who was really in love with Colin. Alvin wasn't in love with Colin. He was most likely merely infatuated with the raccoon, a feeling that would hopefully go away once he returned home.

"You wanna join me?"

The question caught Alvin off guard. He stared at the racoon until he realized that he'd been asked a question and he was expected to answer. The only problem was that he couldn't find his voice. Once he found his voice it was hard for him to form a coherent sentence, much less words. He shook his head. "No," he mumbled.

"Then get out," Colin suggested before hopping into the tub, his ringed tail the last thing that Alvin saw of him.

The bathroom door was shut by Alvin, who merely lazed around the house waiting for Colin to finish with his shower. He went in Marshmallow's bedroom and watched her sleep, sitting in the rocking chair by her crib, watching her through the bars of the crib, the creaking of the rocking chair being the only sound that was uttered.

The hallway was suddenly flooded with yellow light, signaling that Colin had finally finished his shower. Like a bolt of lightning, Alvin was up and in the hall just as Colin was exiting the bathroom. The raccoon looked absolutely gorgeous, dashing, even! The raccoon had his fur neatly combed down. His fur was shiny. The fur on his tail was well groomed, as was the white fur from his muzzle to his belly. The tuxedo looked great on the raccoon. Colin looked stunningly handsome. Erik was in for a big surprise!

Their eyes met and Colin seemed annoyed at the fact that Alvin was staring at him, causing the red-clad chipmunk to quickly divert his eyes from the handsome raccoon.

"Okay, what's your deal?" Colin asked, walking over towards the chipmunk. "Are you, like, in love with me or something?"

Alvin cringed at the question. He might as well have been. He'd been staring at the raccoon ever since he'd arrived home and hadn't stopped staring at him (especially the raccoon's big, round, furry, plump behind) since. Once again he questioned what was wrong with him, but no answer came to him. He finally looked up at Colin and shook his head.

"So tell me why you've been staring at like some horny schoolgirl since I got home?" Colin demanded.

"I . . . I don't know," Alvin admitted sheepishly.

"Well, knock it off, would you? It's creeping me out!" He turned swiftly on his heel and walked out of the front door.

Alvin was still standing in the hallway even after Colin had left.

"Mm, I don't know about this," Erik groaned. He stared at himself in the mirror while Alvin combed the white fur on his head.

"Oh, come on, Erik," Alvin replied. "You have nothing to be nervous about. This is Colin we're talking about, remember?"

The skunk gave a weak nod. "I suppose so." He reached down and buttoned the jacket of his tuxedo, then straightened and tightened his tie. With a swish of his broad striped tail he turned around on his heel and beamed at Alvin. "How do I look?"

Alvin chuckled as he tugged at the skunk's jacket, straightening it, getting rid of the wrinkles. He took a couple of steps backward and whistled, nodding his head in approval. He formed a picture frame with his thumbs and index fingers, shutting one eye and squinting the ohter to get a better look at the skunk. "You look . . . great." He smiled and stepped forward, placing his hands on the skunk's shoulders. "Stop worrying so much."

"I can't."

"Excited?"

"Mm-hmm." The skunk suddenly frowned. "So why do I feel so sick?"

"Hmm." Alvin tugged at the skunk's tie, commenting, "Maybe this tie is too tight." He attempted to loosen it and only ended up choking Erik in the process. He pulled quickly, giving the skunk an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Erik shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"Now the only question is, where can we get a top hat?" Alvin asked.

Erik chuckled and the smallest of smiles played across his face. "A top hat? That's a little much, don't you think so, Alvin?"

Alvin shrugged. "Maybe so. Besides, I have no earthly idea as to where we would be able to find a top hat anyway. It'd be too expensive anyhow."

Erik nodded in agreement. "Probably." He turned back to face the mirror and inhaled and exhaled. "All right. Wish me luck."

Alvin patted the skunk's back. "You'll be fine."

The skunk's happy expression suddenly faltered. "I'm not so sure."

Alvin chuckled. "Erik, you worry too much. Learn to take risks. Sometimes a chance is all you need for happiness."

Erik looked over his shoulder at the chipmunk, a bewildered look on his face. "Mm. Where did you hear that?"

Alvin stopped to think about it. "I can't exactly remember. I think it was from a fortune cookie or something." He frowned. "You shouldn't worry so much."

Erik looked down. "I can't help it. After all, I am a bit . . . disgusting, don't you think?" He looked up at Alvin, looking distressed, as if he was about to start crying.

"No, that's not what I think," Alvin said sternly, glaring down at the skunk. "How dare you even think something so negative about yourself!"

Erik winced. "Sorry," he said quietly.

"To be honest, I think you're cute," Alvin commented, smiling. He playfully poked the skunk in the nose. "I'm sure Colin thinks so too." He leaned forward and pecked the skunk on the nose. "Good luck. You'd best be going or you'll be late."

"R-Right," Erik agreed, nodding his head.

Alvin watched the skunk leave for his date before going back inside the house to spend the evening with Renee and Marshmallow.

Before stopping by the park, Erik made a few pit stops, first to the flower shop and then to Walmart. He picked out a bouquet of roses and a couple of boxes of chocolates. While cliche, who was he to go against tradition? Besides, Colin liked flowers and chocolate just as much as he did. He stopped when he was getting back in his car and adjusted the white fur on his head to make sure he looked presentable before leaving Walmart and heading to the park.

Colin was already at the park. He'd arrived ten minutes early. It was unnecessary, but he wanted to make sure that he was on time. He hadn't done anything special like buying gifts for his date. He had merely showered, put on a tuxedo, and added a good layer of cologne to his body to rid it of the stink of garbage from the previous night in which he'd rummaged through the garbage cans. He had been sure to get his armpits and, while some would have considered it bizarre, his crotch area and his furry rump, although they had previously been cleaned with water and soap.

The raccoon sat in his car, the radio turned on, but the volume of it low. He looked up and adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could adjust his tie, making sure it was straight and tight, but not tight enough to where he was being choked. He adjusted the mirror once again and stopped when he noticed his eyes. Funny, he had never stopped to notice how quite beautiful his eyes were. He looked over his shoulder and ran his paws through his tail, combing down the brown and black hairs. He licked his paw and ran it through his tail once again, this time having better results. He let go of his tail, satisfied with how it looked.

He reached down and adjusted the volume of the radio, tapping his paw against the steering wheel in time with the music while he patiently waited for the time to arrive for his date. His headlights were out and the sun was starting to set. It never ceased to amaze him how gorgeous sunsets could look. They were more beautiful than sunrises were. He watched in awe as the sky was filled with different hues of purple, yellow, pink, orange, fiery red, and violet, the clouds and sun seeming to enhance the experience, the sun making the colors seem all the brighter and the light creating a silhoutte around the clouds. It really was breathtaking. Sometimes nature in general could be breathtaking.

He jumped when he heard a beeping noise. He looked down at his phone to see that it was now time to arrive for his date. He shut off the car and stepped out of his car.

Erik's queasiness seemed to intensify as he neared the park. He parked his car a few ways away from Colin's for fear of being spotted prematurely. He shut off his headlights and watched as Colin approached a nearby bench and sat down, the raccoon looking more gorgeous than Erik had ever seen him. Feeling some vomit trying to shoot its way out of his mouth he quickly swallowed, leving a horrid taste in his mouth. If he had sweat glands he would have been sweating profusely. He was already extremely hot and the confines of the car combined with the tuxedo he was wearing didn't seem to be helping matters whatsoever. At long last he stepped out of the vehicle, quietly shutting the door for fear of drawing Colin's attention.

Colin glanced at his watch. It was a little past five, but that didn't bother him. He didn't mind his date being a little late. He was just excited about having a good time with his date. He squirmed about in his seat, his excitement seeming too much for him to handle, as if he would burst if he didn't express how ecstatic he was. He and his date were going to have a great time tonight, no matter what they did! They could just lie around and have sex for the next few hours for all he cared and they would still enjoy themselves.

"Colin! Hey, Colin!"

That had to be his date. There was no one else around. When he turned his head towards the direction from where the voice was coming from, however, a confused expression covered his face as he spotted Erik walking towards him. In spite of his confusion, he had to admit that Erik looked dashing. The skunk was wearing a very nicely pressed tuxedo identical to the one that Colin himself was wearing, except the sash was blue on Erik's, whereas the sash on Colin's was red. In his paws the skunk held what appeared to be a bouquet of roses and some boxes of chocolate in the other. Colin felt his mouth water as he spotted the chocolates, being reminded of his hunger. Still, at the center of his mind, he was trying to figure what on earth Erik was doing at the park at this hour. Didn't the skunk feel like spending Christmas Eve with his family? In truth, Colin wouldn't want to be anywhere else than with his family at the moment, but as far as he was concerned he wouldn't have a chance at another date until probably Valentine's Day. Besides, Marshmallow was probably still sleeping off her stomachache from earlier and Renee would be busy doing some last-minute wrapping possibly all night, whereas Alvin would simply drink boiled custard or some other festive beverage and watch television, so as far as Colin was concerned, he wasn't missing out on anything, and neither was Erik. Still, what was Erik doing here at the park? To Colin's knowledge, the skunk had no business being in the park at this hour. Perhaps the skunk had come to spy on Colin and his date. If that were so, however, then why on earth was Erik making his presence known? Weren't spies supposed to keep their identities a secret from those they were spying on? He'd seen it several times in all of the James Bond movies and the other spy movies that came before the iconic British spy.

Colin hopped off the bench and turned to face Erik as the skunk reached him. He stared down at Erik, who was grinning from ear to ear, a hopeful look on his face. The expression on Colin's face hadn't changed. He was still confused as ever. "Erik, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I-" Erik began.

"Did you come here to spy on me and my date?"

"No. I-"

"Erik, get out of here before my date gets here. You shouldn't be here anyway. You should be at home."

"But, Colin, I-"

"Erik, go home!"

"But, Colin-"

"Go!"

"I'm your date! Your secret admirer is me!"

A long, awkward silence fell over the two as they stared at each other: Erik with a look of fear and distress, Colin with a mixture of emotions: confusion, anger, frustration, disgust, among others.

"What?!" Colin screeched.

Erik took a cautionary step backwards, trembling, fiddling with his paws by his chest. He looked down at the ground, afraid that if he were to make eye contact with Colin that he would start bawling. His broad striped tail curled around his feet and he gripped its tip and began stroking it, still looking distressed.

"So . . ." Colin began. "So you mean to tell me that all the letters . . ."

Erik nodded weakly.

Colin continued to stare down at the skunk, unsure of how to react. He couldn't exactly be mad at him because he appreciated the thought. He actually thought it was really sweet that Erik liked him enough to send him letters as his secret admirer. Yet, he couldn't help but feel angry. All this time he'd been thinking that he was going to end up meeting some beautiful girl raccoon and his secret admirer ended up being Erik! He surely hadn't seen this coming! This was out of the blue, out of left field! How did Erik expect him to react.

He suddenly recalled one letter from his secret admirer that led to him and his secret admirer talking in a private chat room. Wanting some privacy, he had gone to the garage with his laptop, from where he could obtain a decent wi-fi connection. The family had broadband, but when the broadband was out it was nice knowing that he could easily connect to the Internet via a wi-fi connection. He had stayed up well past midnight talking with his secret admirer, the two of them telling each other what they would do to each other if they were alone together. Their conversation had turned quite erotic with Colin becoming aroused and leading to him pleasuring himself, ending up getting cum all over the old worn red couch, which had left him fully satisfied and exhausted. Their conversation had come to an end after that. Oddly enough, the next morning Erik had been in a very cherry mood, grinning from ear to ear.

His eyes widened in realization as he recalled this memory. He took a few steps back, staring at Erik in awe. "You mean . . . you were the one who I was talking to in that private chat?"

Erik tried to grin, but couldn't due to the expression on Colin's face. "Y-Yeah . . ."

"This unbelievable." The coon turned, rubbing his temples, mumbling to himself as if this were all nothing more than a very bad dream that he was trying to rid himself from. When he turned around and saw Erik he realized that he wasn't dreaming at all. What he was experiencing at the time was completely real.

"Are you mad?" The timid skunk took a step forward, only to stop suddenly when Colin stepped away from him. He reached forward to grasp Colin's arm, but the raccoon jerked his arm away. The skunk's arm limply fell and he went back to stroking his tail.

Colin gripped his head and closed his eyes, shaking his head back and forth as if trying to wear away a painful headache. He finally opened his eyes and lifted his head so that he was staring at Erik directly in the eyes. "Go home, Erik."

"W-What?" The skunk looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Go home," Colin repeated, more sternly than before.

"B-B-But . . ." Erik was at a loss for words.

"Please," Colin pleaded, "just go home. I need to be alone for a while, if you don't mind. I need to think about things."

"O . . . Okay." He started to go, but was suddenly stopped by a grasp to his arm, causing him to turn his head and look at the raccoon that was grasping his arm.

"Before you go," Colin replied, "there's something you should know."

Erik turned so that he was fully facing Colin.

Colin inhaled, then exhaled before speaking once again. "Just so you know, I already knew, Erik."

Erik's head jerked around, a surprised expression on his face. "What?"

"I've known for a while now, Erik."

"How?"

"You're my best friend. I could just tell."

"Do you-"

"Erik, we're just friends. You're a friend of mine."

Erik had been starting to feel better, but at that moment even more pain filled both his heart and his head.

"Now, go on home," Colin suggested, turning Erik around and gently pushing him forward, shooing him away. "I'll be home shortly. I need to think about things. Don't worry, I'll be home in time for dinner."

For Erik, it was a long walk back to his car. It was an even longer ride home. When he did arrive home Alvin was waiting for him at the kitchen table, apparently having nothing better to do.

"How did it go?" Alvin asked, standing up and staring at the skunk.

Erik ignored Alvin as he walked towards the fridge and grabbed the full jug of milk that Renee had gotten earlier in the day upon learning of Alvin and Marshmallow's binge eating episode from Colin. He grabbed a glass from the nearest cabinet above his head and poured himself a glass of milk. He heard Alvin approach him, but otherwise did not do any action to indicate that he was aware of Alvin's presence.

"The date didn't go well, did it?" Alvin guessed.

Erik didn't respond. He quickly finished his glass of milk before discarding it in the sink and turning away from the chipmunk with a swish of his tail. "I'm going to bed."

"You're not hungry?" Alvin called.

Erik didn't respond.

"Okay," Alvin replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Whatever," Erik mumbled. The tip of his tail disappeared as he went further down the hall.

The sound of a door slamming shut was the last thing that Alvin heard.

Colin spent over an hour at the park sitting on the bench thinking over all that had happened over the past several days. He was still unsure as to how he should have reacted to the fact that Erik was his secret admirer. In truth, because he'd known for quite a while that the skunk was in love with him, he supposed he shouldn't have been too terribly surprised. He'd seen the way Erik looked at him when the skunk thought that he wasn't looking. He'd read the diary entries that Erik had written about him and the various pictures that the skunk had drawn of him (the skunk wasn't as good as Colin himself, but he was getting better). He'd heard Erik mumble his name in his sleep and give a gasp and a moan as if Colin was pleasuring him in his dream. He'd seen Erik staring at pictures of him and hugging it tightly. Other times he would trace Colin's face with his finger over the picture. Yes, there was no doubt about it. Erik was quite infatuated with him, and Colin couldn't blame him. After all, Colin had to admit it even to himself that he was quite dashingly handsome, but not to the point where he was gawking at himself in the mirror like he'd seen Alivn did so many times before.

When nightfall fell over the playground and the park itself, he decided that it would be a good choice to go ahead and get home. He got in his car and when he saw the time he realized that in his quest to figure things out he had lost track of time and had missed dinner. He hoped Renee wouldn't mind. It was well past eight. As long as he was home before midnight she wouldn't mind. It amazed even him that he'd been sitting and thinking for well over three hours. Where had the time gone?

Silence was what filled the raccoon's ears as he drove home. He didn't feel like listening to anything but the still silence that filled his car. The only sounds that were uttered were the noises his car made as it shifted gears and as he stopped and accelerated repeatedly. Finally, he pulled into the driveway of his home and got out of the car, his car keys jingling as he walked towards the front door, him twirling the keys around by way of him spinning them around his finger using the ring that the keys were attached to. He wasn't in a particularly happy mood. How could he be? He was merely looking for something to keep him entertained until he walked through the front door.

He was surprised that Alvin was still up waiting for him. Everyone else, at least he assumed, were asleep. The red-clad chipmunk was seated at the end of the table that was visible from the living room via the threshold that led to the dining room and kitchen. The chipmunk sat with his elbows resting on the table, his chin resting on his folded hands. As he entered the ktichen Alvin turned to face him, the chipmunk looking somewhat pissed at him. He wasn't exactly sure what Alvin had to be pissed about, but Colin was certain that it had something to do with the fact that his date hadn't gone over very well. Surely Erik had told Alvin all about it, and even if the skunk hadn't then surely the way in which Erik had moved and talked had indicated that the date hadn't gone well.

"How did the date go?" Alvin asked. He shook his head. "I couldn't get an answer out of Erik. He seemed upset when he came home."

"Shouldn't that tell you how the date went?" Colin asked. He walked past Alvin and walked over towards the fridge. He reached in and pulled out a bottle of water.

"It's just that . . ." He fumbled with the manner in which to say what he wanted. "Well, you know how sensitive Erik is. I just don't understand how you could do that to him."

"I didn't do anything to him." He screwed the cap of the bottle of water back on. "I just told him to go home and to let me think about things. That's it." He set the bottle on the counter.

"And have you made a decision?"

The raccoon shook his head. "No. Of course not. I've been thinking about it ever since Erik left and I still can't decide what I want."

"I would imagine it would be hard for you to make such a decision."

Colin nodded. "I'm sure I'll be able to reach a decision by morning after a good night's sleep. I'll see you in the morning?"

Alvin grinned. "Of course. Merry Christmas, and good luck."

"Yeah. I'll need it." He grabbed the bottle of water and walked past Alvin yet again, walking down the hall towards the bedroom that he shared with Erik. Despite the fact that he was tired, he had a feeling that it was going to be a good long while before sleep found him.

The first thing he spotted when he walked in the bedroom was Erik's still sleeping form in his bed, his body moving up and down as he breathed, his feet and striped tail poking out of the end of his covers while the rest of his body, including his head, was completely covered. He walked over to the skunk's bed and gently rubbed and patted Erik's still form. He went over to his bedside table next and began rummaging around in the drawer until he pulled out a plastic bag that contained all the letters from his secret admirer. He reclined on his bed, using his pillow as support for his neck and back and stretched out his legs. He sorted through the letters until he had them in order from the earliest to the latest one. His eyes ran from left to right, scanning the words. When he'd first read the letters that had touched his heart. Now when he was reading them they tugged at his heartstrings since he now knew who his secret admirer was. It seemed as if Erik had meant every word that he'd typed up. Why the skunk had decided to type the letters instead of writing them, he didn't know. Perhaps it was because the skunk's handwriting was so poor that he felt having them typed would make them easier for Colin to read to save him the trouble of having to strain his eyes to make out the scribbled chicken scratch on the paper.

Every now and then his eyes would move over to Erik as he was reading the letters. No doubt he had greatly upset Erik with his reaction. Upon reading the letters he realized that Erik's feelings towards him were genuine, so heartfelt that they couldn't be a ploy just to break the raccoon's heart. He knew Erik well enough to know that Erik would never do such a thing, in spite of all the hell he had been through.

Colin finally fell asleep surrounded by the papers that Erik had his letters typed up on. There was one letter that the raccoon held in his paw to his chest, it rising and falling along with his chest. The others were by his feet and sides. As he rolled around in his sleep the papers rustled audibly, but the noise didn't appear to bother anyone, not even Erik.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Christmas morning finally arrived and the family awoke, still half-asleep. They each went about their normal morning routine: waking up, getting their diapers changed, then they went in the kitchen for breakfast and coffee. While it was Christmas morning and they should have been ecstatic, the events of the previous night had left some of them in a sour mood, especially Alvin, Erik, and Colin. Meanwhile, Marshmallow and Renee were still somewhat sleepy due to the fact that they hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. As for the other three, their emotions ranged from depressed to anger. Erik and Colin were depressed (both had their separate reasons), whereas Alvin was still sour towards Colin for hurting Erik. The raccoon could understand why Alvin was still steamed at him. Had it been the other way around, Colin was sure that he would have been upset with Alvin.

Once breakfast was out of the way and once they each had some caffeine running through their veins they each walked in the living room and gathered around the Christmas tree to open gifts. There weren't that many, surprisingly. Then again, there were only five members of the family. Still, there should have been more than just a few presents under the tree, each member usually having the intention to buy at least gift for each member of the family. This year was different, however. There were presents addressed to Marshmallow, Renee, Alvin, Erik, and Colin, but whereas Erik and Colin would have gotten presents for each other, there weren't any addressed to either Erik or Colin from the former or the latter. While Renee admitted that this was bizarre, she didn't question it and merely went about passing out the gifts, each member of the family taking turns opening their gifts.

Erik and Colin had saved up their money and together they had gotten Renee a new pair of scissors along with a new hair stylin kit that included a set of scissors, just in case she lost one pair. The kit came with a set of combs of varying lengths and a spray bottle along with bottles of shampoo and conditioner that all the professionals used. The two had also saved their money and had bought Marshmallow a collection of baby paraphenalia together. Among diapers and a new set of baby bottles, they had also gotten her a set of pacifiers, sleepers, and at least two jugs of milk, although they predicted that the two gallons of milk would be gone by next week given how quickly they went through milk, especially with three babies needing to be fed.

Renee had gotten Alvin a beautiful set of lead pencils that were arranged from lightest to darkest, although he could easily rearrange them so that they went from darkest to lightest. Along with it she had gotten him a sketch pad, as well as a book that detailed how to draw different characters from famous cartoons and another book that detailed how to draw still-life and do more realistic-looking drawings. Along with the lead pencils she had gotten him a set of colored pencils so he could color his drawings if he so wished.

Alvin had found that shopping for Marshmallow had been extremely easy. Basically, anything that had to do with being a baby she wanted. While this was true, he was pleased to see that she was happy with the jar of peanut butter that he had gotten her as her Christmas present, along with a plastic spoon with which to eat it. For him she had gotten him some spray-on deodorant along with some body wash and some shampoo and conditioner, knowing that personal hygiene and keeping up with his personal appearance was of utmost importance to him. She didn't look to understand why and she wasn't about to try to understand it. Unfortunately, after she'd spent all of her money on Alvin, she had no money left to buy her mother anything. She was grateful when she learned that her mother didn't care in the slightest.

"Well, I guess that's everyone," Renee said, standing up and dusting her paws off.

"No, wait," Erik cried. I have something special I want to give Alvin."

Alvin looked over at him. "What is it, Erik?"

"Just wait here," Erik instructed. He hopped off the couch and walked down the hall and entered his bedroom. He returned moments later with Alvin's backpack, which he handed to the chipmunk. "Here."

Alvin took the old worn red backpack and examined it. "Thanks, Erik, but, uh, isn't this my old one?" he asked, giving the skunk a curious look.

"Well, yeah," Erik agreed, "but I also got you a little something. Look in it!" He quickly unzipped the bag before Alvin got a chance to do so.

Alvin peered in it for a moment and pulled out a leather-bound hardcover book. "It's . . . a book?" he guessed, still unsure of what the gift was.

Erik chuckled. "You gotta open it first, Alvin," he declared. "Look inside. The rest of you do the same." He gestured for everyone else to get closer, huddling them all close together so they could get a clear view of what was on the first page.

Alvin was speechless by what he saw. "A photo album? This is so awesome, you guys! Thank you so much!" He patted everyone on the shoulder and hugged them closely with one arm.

"Don't look at me, I didn't do this," Marshmallow said, putting her paws out in front of her. "I was busy."

"Yeah, me neither," Renee added. "I was busy getting food."

Alvin looked at them, confused. "You mean, you guys didn't make this together?" he asked, still wondering what was going on.

"Well," Erik spoke up, "I don't mean to brag, but . . ." His gaze fell to the floor as he idly kicked his foot against the carpet. With his paws folded behind his back, he glanced up at Alvin once more with a somewhat sheepish grin. "I did it! I made it all by myself for everybody, especially you, Alvin." He was quite prideful and satisfied with how the book had turned out.

"Really?" Alvin asked, staring at the skunk in surprise. "That's really . . . wow! Thank you." He felt like picking Erik up and hugging him until the skunk was breathless, but instead pulled him relatively close into a headlock with one arm and began scratching his head "You little bundle of fur, how did you do this?" he asked, hugging Erik even closer, almost smothering the fat mammal.

"Well, it wasn't that hard, really," Erik declared, momentarily pulling away from Alvin's grip for a breath of air. "I mean, I just took some pictures of everybody and put them in the little picture slot things."

"I meant more like, what made you think of this?" Alvin asked, letting go of Erik completely and starting to look at the next page.

"Oh," Erik replied, now understanding. "Well, everyone was thinking of stuff to do for you and I wanted to do something no one else would." He couldn't help but be a little proud; he rarely had the chance to prove himself to everyone, let alone Alvin.

"Erik, this is really good," Renee said, looking over a page entirely dedicated to her, Colin, Erik, and Marshmallow.

"Aren't there any of me and you in here?" Marshmallow asked Erik, quickly searching through the pages. "Here's one. Aww, you even put a little heart frame around it."

"Yeah," Erik said. "Well, I wanted to do something special for all of you, but, remember, it's still Alvin's." He quickly closed the photo album and handed it back to Alvin, who took it gratefully, before Marshmallow was finished looking at it.

"Wow, Erik, that was really thoughtful of you," Colin said.

"Yeah," Marshmallow agreed. "I never would have been able to think of that all on my own."

Renee, Melissa, Colin, and Marshmallow decided to go in the kitchen to begin preparing lunch, leaving both Erik and Alvin in the living room by themselves.

Erik felt a bit invisible now that no one was paying any mind to him or his gift anymore.

Alvin took quick notice of Erik staring at the floor with the small photo book held in one of his paws. "Hey, are you doing okay, buddy?" he asked.

Erik quickly looked up into Alvin's blue eyes. He was almost entranced by them but regained his usual expression quickly "Oh, I'm fine, just tired, I guess. Umm, yeah, tired from helping the others get everything set up for this party, that's all." He tried to act like himself, but Alvin wasn't buying it.

"You didn't do much of anything today, remember?" Alvin reminded the skunk. He was curious as to why Erik was acting in such an odd manner. The skunk wasn't himself.

Erik knew he couldn't fool Alvin this time. "Well, I . . . it's just . . . It seems like everyone is ignoring me, and I don't want you to ignore me, too." He was feeling depressed all of a sudden by what he was saying himself, which rarely happened.

Alvin frowned. "What makes you think they're ignoring you?" he asked, putting a hand on Erik's shoulder, causing the skunk's body to shudder a little

"Well, they're always doing things without me," Erik explained. "Like yesterday, I could've helped more, but I didn't want to get in the way; besides, I'm not like them." He sat down on the soft tan carpet, looking over to where everyone else was starting to get things cleaned up and put away.

Alvin sat down next to him "What do you mean? You get along great with them, and nobody says anything bad about you." He heard Erik scoff so quietly it sounded more like a whimper.

"I get along with them," Erik agreed. "They like me, but I'm just not like any of them; I feel out of place whenever I see how different they are from me. It's like I don't belong here, yet they still call me family."

Alvin sighed "You know, I'm the same way. Everyone here loves me for who I am and I feel really weird being given all of these things and being part of this. But I feel like I don't belong here either, yet here I am."

Alvin's statement brought a smile back to Erik's face "You're right, Alvin. I should be happier. It's just hard, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand what that feels like," Alvin said as he got back to his feet, yet Erik stayed where he was. "You want to help me get this wrapping paper be away?"

Erik hopped to his feet and nodded his head eagerly. "Sure!"

The shredded wrapping paper was thrown away in the trash while the boxes were kept and put in the garage. The group went about their separate ways after that. Alvin lounged around in the living room watching bad TV specials while Renee went in the kitchen to prepare Christmas dinner. Marshmallow was put down for a nap after her bottle-feeding. Meanwhile, Erik and Colin went in their bedroom to have a nice, long talk.

"I noticed you ddin't get me a present this year," Colin said to Erik.

At first, Erik didn't respond. Then he replied, "But I did. My present to you this year was me. I . . . thought that much was obvious."

Colin's ears flattened against his head and he frowned. "Oh. So that's what the letters and the date were all about?"

Erik nodded weakly. "Yes."

"Oh," Colin repeated. "Listen, I've been doing some thinking about what you said last night and . . ." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the floor before beaming at the skunk. "I figured why not give you a chance?"

Erik's head jerked up and he beamed at the raccoon in front of him. "You mean . . ."

Colin smiled and nodded. "That's right. What say you and me spend the day togeher, just you and me?"

Erik latched onto Colin and buried his face in Colin's chest, nuzzling his face in the soft white fur that covered it. "Oh, Colin, I would truly love that!"

Colin chuckled and gently pushed Erik away. "I figured you would." He suddenly ducked under his bed and began fishing around for something, while his furry rump and tail were completely visible to Erik, much to the skunk's delight. He finally emerged and held up what he'd discovered. "Why don't we start by trying out that ice skating thing again?"

"I . . ." Erik took a couple of steps back. "I'm not so sure."

"Oh, come on." He slung the ice skates over one shoulder and held onto the laces. He put his other paw on Erik's shoulder and smiled down at him. "I'll be right beside you every step of the way."

Erik smiled. "Well, okay."

"Great! Then afterward we can have a nice romantic dinner."

Erik chuckled. "You've been reading romance novels again, haven't you?"

Colin laughed. "Yeah, I guess I have. Come on, let's go." He put an arm around the skunk and they walked down the hall together.

"I'll give you your present tonight," Erik whispered in Colin's ear as they exited the house.

Colin smiled, looking forward to what present could be awaiting him when the two of them got home that night.


End file.
